Guard Dog
by Icka M. Chif
Summary: Since July 2003. Jounouchi's got the perfect job, he gets to duel and game all he wants, and has the occasional fight on the side. The downside: It's for Kaiba Corporation, as Mokuba's bodyguard.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! R and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX belong to Kazuki Takahashti, Shounen Jump, Toei Animation Co., Ltd. Reg. All recognisable characters belong to their respective owners, I am using them without permission for no other intention other than my own amusement and certainly not making any money off of it.

**Title: **Guard Dog  
**Author: **Icka! M. Chif  
**Date Started:** 8 July 2003  
**Word Count:** 149,000 as of 4 Sept 2007  
**This Post:** 5,200  
**Author Notes:** Since we're re-editing the fic and filling in scenes, figured we may as well post it here too. Art and more can be found on our site, mischif dot net. Watch for falling crossovers.  
Many many thanks to those who pointed out errors and corrections! They've been fixed!

* * *

(About 3 years post Battle City.)

"Congratulations, Mokuba." Kaiba Seto looked over the rims of his computer glasses to look at his embarrassed looking younger brother. "You have broken your previous record of scaring away bodyguards within a weeks time."

"S'not my fault." Mokuba mumbled, crossing his arms and not-quite sulking in a way that only someone on the grasp of being a teenager can.

"And what was wrong with this last one?" Seto's tone bordered the line between annoyed and exasperated, but still held an undercurrent of fondness for his mischievous younger sibling.

"He wouldn't let me go anywhere!" Mokuba exclaimed. "He said it was too 'potentially hazardous' for me to go out and play with other gamers, but he wouldn't let anyone come in and game with me, and he didn't know anything about Duel Monsters!" The last was spat out like it was the most inconceivable thing in the world.

"Uh-huh." Seto sat back in his chair. "And what was wrong with the one that -did- play Duel Monsters?"

"He treated me like I was some baby!" The long dark haired boy grumbled. "And he tried to put me in footie pyjamas. FOOTIE PYJAMAS!!"

"The horror." The sarcasm was so thick you could cut it with a spoon.

"I'm NOT a little kid anymore, 'Niisama." Blue-grey eyes glared at claer blue ones. At fourteen and a half, Mokuba was rapidly catching up to his brother's reputation in the industry. While he may not have shown the same interest in business, he had long surpassed Seto in information gathering and more recently in programming. The two often teamed up on projects for Kaiba Corporation, Seto building the hardware while Mokuba created the software.

"I'm well aware of that." His brother assured him. "But I am also aware of the fact that members of Kaiba Corporation Security would rather swim in a tank of hungry sharks than to guard you for an hour. In fact, I've gotten several offers to personally go and watch as they hang a piece of raw meat around their necks and jump into the water."

Mokuba's face darkened slightly at that. "They're all lame." He muttered, clenching a fist.

"They're also necessary."

"Feh."

Seto sighed, sliding off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. The threat and risk of the younger brother being held hostage in exchange for money or power over Kaiba Corporation had greatly reduced within the past few years. He was practically subdued around his assigned bodyguards in comparison to what he had done to the past several attempted kidnappers.

They'd actually made money twice, the would-be ransomers paying -him- to take the youngest Kaiba back.

But the risk of extortion was still present, no matter what reputation for wildness Mokuba may have had. Hence, the need for bodyguards. Or more specifically, backup.

"You've got that look again." Seto slid the glasses back on his face, peering over the rims again to raise an eyebrow at his brother, who had a glint in his stormy eyes. "What have you got on your mind?"

A small smirk curled up in the corner of the younger boy's mouth. "A proposition for you."

"A proposition?" While it wasn't un-heard of for Mokuba to propose a 'business deal' between the two of them, it wasn't common either. "What sort of proposition?"

Gone was the surliness as Mokuba bounced towards the desk. "It's like this, see? I don't need a full fleet of bodyguards, I'm safe enough at school, at home and here-"

"-Except for the occasional turncoat." Seto pointed out. While his screening procedures were strict and most of his employees were loyal, there were the few rare dissenters. Corporate espionage at its best.

Mokuba nodded, taking it in stride. "And that, I just really need one in transit from home to school, or to here. And when I go out to play-" There was a strong emphasis on his 'going out to play'. There had been a few fights about Mokuba not spending all of his time at Kaiba Corporation, that he should go out and spend time playing with children of his own age as well. After all, Seto's goal in taking over Kaiba Corporation in the first place was to allow Mokuba a normal childhood.

... Or at least as normal of a childhood as one could get while being a Kaiba...

"-So therefore, I'm thinking all I need is one bodyguard, who doesn't look and act like an android and scare everyone away. Someone that has experience with kids and Duel Monsters and will test out our latest improvements on the Duelling Systems and isn't afraid of helicopters and travelling like that one stupid one. And most of all, is willing to have FUN."

Seto leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk and intertwining his fingers together. "Sounds like you already have someone in mind."

He got a not-quite innocent smile in response.

"All right." He sighed, knowing this was a losing battle before it even started. "But they have to pass my standards first, otherwise it's back to Kaiba Security Officers for you. And I don't want to hear about any problems."

"Understood, 'Niisama!" Mokuba shot him a cheeky salute, a broad grin on his face. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome." He smiled back, the small curving of his lips a fond expression for his younger brother alone. People may have viewed him as a dragon, cold sleek and cunning, but those same people often failed to look past his brother's innocent appearance to realise that Mokuba was a dragon as well. Granted, a dragon kit still, slowly testing and growing into his wings, but already a force to be reckoned with.

Mokuba dashed around the desk to give Seto a quick hug, despite the fact that he often claimed to be too old for such displays of affection. He returned it, messing up the long black strands as he did so. Mokuba shot him a mock-glare for his troubles, smoothing out his hair with affronted dignity before smiling at him in a silent laugh. With one last wave, he trotted out the door, closing it behind him. "Later, 'Niisama!"

"Don't get into too much trouble!" He shouted back, knowing it wouldn't do any good. It was like his brother had changed dramatically and hadn't changed at all in his mind's eye. He was, and probably always would be, the snot-nosed brat he had been when they were younger. And yet at the same time, he was growing up.

He spared a moment to marvel at the changes in both of them since their parents had passed away before reluctantly shaking his head and returning to work.

* * *

"You're joking."

Mokuba crossed his arms, a stubborn look on his face. "Nope."

"Hey!" The person underneath Seto's knee wiggled in a futile attempt to break free. "What the hell is goin' on?!"

He ignored the person. "Him?!"

"Yes."

"Get off me!"

"Why?"

Mokuba began to count the points off on his fingers. "He's got fighting skills, we already know we can trust him, he likes us-" Both he and the other man trapped under Seto made a muffled sound of protest in the back of their throats "-and he's proved in the past to be a reliable protector."

"He's brainless."

"It's not nice ta talk about others when they CAN HEAR YOU!" The other man snapped, attempting to hit him. Seto shifted his grip, immobilising the person further.

"He's stubborn and refuses to give up, AND he's the number three duellist in the rankings, right after you and Yuugi." Mokuba crossed his arms. "Plus he's got street smarts, which is something none of the rest of those lame-brains have."

Seto looked around at the fallen still groaning bodyguards around them. Mokuba had a point. A very good one at that.

"What's goin' ON?!" The other boy spat, trying to futilely jerk his arms free.

"He'll need additional training." Seto pointed out, mentally reviewing the fight scene he'd walked into, leading to their current position. At the time he'd thought he had walked into another attempted kidnapping, which he had. But instead of the sweatshirt hooded ruffian attempting to beat his men to kidnap Mokuba, said ruffian had been preventing the kidnapping at the hands of his supposedly trusted 'security guards'. "I took him down easily."

"Fighting multiple people at once is a different skill than fighting one on one." Mokuba countered. "And I never said he was -perfect-, just that I think he's the perfect person for the job."

"Leggo already!"

Seto debated for a moment while the teen beneath him continued to futilely struggle. Personal opinions aside, it most likely was the best solution around. Things certainly couldn't continue as they were.

Personal opinions aside...

"Three months training, I approve afterwards." He said.

Mokuba nodded, accepting his terms. "Takes both of us to fire him." That way neither could accuse the other of getting rid of him in a bout of anger.

"Oi! Don't make me kick your butt!"

"Agreed. But until he's on, you behave for the normal guards."

Grey eyes narrowed at that, but his brother nodded. "Anything else, 'Niisama?"

"Hellooooo-?"

"We can decide later, if he passes."

"He will." Mokuba appeared confidant. Seto nodded curtly and released the lanky limbed man beneath him, rising quickly and stepping out of the way.

Mokuba moved forward, a hand extended to help him up as he smiled. "Sorry about that."

"What the hell is goin' on?!" The other boy growled, brushing himself off.

"Well..." His brother's grin grew wider. "How'd you like to work for me, Jounouchi-kun?" He asked innocently.

The Mutt just stared.

* * *

When the Jerk-Faced Kaiba had told Jounouchi that he was going to be sent off for three months for training, Jounouchi had expected someplace far away, deep in the mountains, being trained by some prune-faced old geezer and sitting under freezing waterfalls for hours at a time.

He was not expecting to be sent to what amounted to a top secret high-tech airforce base and trained by someone younger than him.

Who could still kick his butt. Without breaking a sweat. While the rest of Sensei's team cheered him on. And then, after having gleefully explained where Jounouchi messed up, they would kick his butt. And occasionally he'd kick theirs. It was painful going, but the gap between their skills and his was slowly shrinking.

Although it was the other lessons that were starting to kind of worry Jounouchi. Okay, so he could kind of maybe possibly in a very remote sort of way picture how learning the tactics of Guerrilla warfare might come in handy, considering the weirdness that they all got up to. And the improvised explosives were just damn cool.

But this latest one...

"It's a gun." Jounouchi stared at the piece of sculpted metal in his hands.

"A Glock 26." Sagara-sensei deadpanned. "Yes."

One of Jounouchi's eyebrows rose. "Kaiba -hates- guns."

"All the more reason for you to learn if he will not pick them to defend himself or his brother." Sagara Sousuke was not much of one for what could be considered 'earth logic'.

Jounouchi thought about it for a minute, then thought about the old favours Kaiba must have had to cash in on from before Kaiba Corporation was a children's toy manufacturer. He then glanced up at the heavy mecha machinery around them that he was pretty sure that he didn't have the clearance to look at, much less touch.

"Am I going to have to learn how to use those too?"

* * *

The chimes on the front door of the Kame Game shop rang, signalling the arrival of another customer. "Irrasshai!" Yuugi called, not looking up from the poster he was attempting to put on the wall.

Years had come and years had gone, his Other Self had passed on to the other world, friends stayed and left and he had finally accepted the fact that he was never going to be much taller than 'Jiichan.

"Tadaima." A familiar voice called back, causing him to pause.

"I'm home-?" He echoed turning around to see who was at the door, thus causing the poster to fall over, draping across his head and temporarily obscuring his vision. He grappled with it, attempting to pull it off his head, muttering obscenities to the people who created such paper menaces.

The obstacle was removed by a familiar and long missed grinning face. "Yo!"

"Jounouchi-kun!!" He smiled back in delight. Jounouchi was back! Poster forgotten, he flung his arms around his friend's waist holding on to him tightly. It had been ages since he'd seen his friend!

"Whoa, Yuugi, gimme a second here." His taller friend laughed, reaching up and fastening the thrice-cursed poster to the wall, slightly hampered by the fact that Yuugi refused to let go. Jounouchi laughed, then wrapped one arm around him and rubbed the knuckles of his other hand into Yuugi's spiking locks as they play-wrestled like they were still in High School.

"You've gotten stronger." Yuugi noted from the headlock, using a free hand to poke at a restraining arm. "And taller! Where have you been? I've missed you!"

"Yeah, well..." The tall blond dropped him, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Sorry 'bout that. Ya did get my postcards right?"

Yuugi crossed his arms, raising an impatient eyebrow. "Yes, I got them." About one a week on average, sometimes two. It had been about the only thing that had kept him from tracking down Jounouchi in a completely panicked state. "'I'm alive, see you soon' doesn't quite explain where you've been for three months. I was starting to wonder if you had gotten eaten."

"Yeah... heh heh, not quite..." Jounouchi shrugged. Unfortunately, with their past with the strange and unusual, the 'eaten' comment was meant more literally than metaphorically. "I was trainin' for a new job. It came up kinda suddenly, so I didn't have time to tell ya before I left."

"Jounouchi-kun." An eyebrow was raised, meaning that Yuugi meant business.

Jounouchi sighed, shoulders slumping as he gave up the veneer of secrecy. "I'm workin' over at Kaiba Corporation." He muttered.

"Kaiba-kun?!" Yuugi's eyes widened. Jounouchi -hated- the eldest Kaiba with a passion. Well, perhaps it had muted slightly with time, but there was still a spark of animosity between the two. Yuugi never quite understood the purpose of it, or why both of them went out of each other's way to barb the other, but he still considered Kaiba Seto among his friends.

Even if no one else thought that way.

"Is everything all right?" He inquired. If Jounouchi was working for Kaiba, then it was probably very serious indeed.

"It's not what ya think!" The blond hastened to assure his friend. "I'm workin' for Mokuba, not Kaiba. Well, Mokuba's a Kaiba too, but Kaiba... eh, you know what I mean. I'm his bodyguard. Mokuba's. That's where I've been, training. Not here, I mean, I was somewhere else, training. Cause I'm a good fighter, but I still can't kick Kaiba's butt, so I was off learnin' how to wipe the floor with him. Or try to anyway... ...I'm not explainin' this too well, am I?" He ended it with a slight wince.

Yuugi frowned. "Jounouchi-kun."

"Yeah?"

"Are you doing this of your own free will or because you had no other choice?"

Jounouchi chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well... Little bit of column A, Little bit of column B..."

"Jounouchi-kun..."

The blond chuckled, taking a step back and holding his hands up in supplication. "It's like this, see? You and Honda and Bakura and everyone else is smart, did well in school, right?"

Yuugi winced. Actually, his grades had been barely passing due to the fact that he spent so much time way from school because of Duelling, but he wasn't about to point that out at this exact moment...

"So when we got outta school, you all had some place ta go. Anzu to New York, Otogi and you ta yer game shops, Bakura ta his father's museum, Honda with his automobile, but me? I'm not so good with school. Part time jobs are great and all, but I only got two things I'm good at. Fightin' and Duellin'. And neither one are exactly somethin' I can get a steady paycheque with. And this..." Jounouchi grinned, a light turning on in his eyes. "This is something I'm -good- at."

"Duelling and fighting?" Yuugi echoed, just a bit of a smile escaping.

"EXACTLY." The light turned into a full-blown megawatt lighthouse, the grin stretching from ear to ear. "Not to mention it gives me a place to live AND food and I get to check out the latest duellin' stuff before it goes on the market! And Mokuba's a good kid, I don't mind hangin' out with him."

"But..."

The grin faded. "But I gotta deal with Kaiba. My room's across the hall from Mokuba's, Mokuba's is just down the hall from Kaiba's. Just in case of emergencies. Those two have a separation complex or somethin'. Not that I blame them or anythin'..."

Both Kaiba brothers had been through a lot. Yuugi still didn't know all the history behind them, but he knew enough to understand their reasoning. Yuugi nodded. "So you're not being coerced or forced into this?" He asked carefully.

"None what so ever." Jounouchi met his gaze levelly. "Yuugi, I WANT ta do this. Excited about it, actually."

"Obviously." He couldn't help but to tease. It earned him another headlock, his hair being messed up despite his laughing protests. It was good to have Jounouchi back, where he knew where he was. He had really been concerned when no one else seemed to know where he had disappeared to.

"So, what have you been up to, Yuugi?" Jounouchi grinned, one arm still wrapped companionably around his shoulders. "How's everyone doing?"

"Well... if you have the time, Mister Jounouchi 'I'm Employed and Disappearing for Months at a Time' Katsuya-kun..." There. He'd stop teasing him about it there, but it had more than stung that Jounouchi had left without a word.

Jounouchi chuckled nervously again. "Sorry about that, Yuugi... Tell ya what, though. I don't have to report in to work until tomorrow, so you have all night to fill me in, okay?"

"And for you to do the same." He agreed, easily escorting his friend into the back rooms. He had some tea brewing there earlier, and he was sure he had enough snacks to last them a few hours at least...

Wait, this was Jounouchi... Who was he kidding? They'd be out of food in an hour. He grinned, causing the blond to look at him with a bit of trepidation.

Yuugi ignored it. After all, snacks weren't as important as having his friend back.

* * *

School, quite frankly, sucked. It sucked big black hairy donkey balls.

And it wasn't even lunch period yet.

Mokuba sighed and pondered the odds of skipping a grade already. Okay, so in a few months he'd be starting High School, but it'd be with most of the same stupid people studying the same stupid things and everyone thinking that 'oh my gosh! like, they were all mature now and stuff' when they -weren't- and when was the last time any of them had to save the world or anything?

Okay, so maybe not -saved- the world single-handedly, but maybe helped a bit and witnessed the non-destruction of the world? SEVERAL times?

Nyah. So there.

Mokuba glanced around making sure that no one was watching him during the break between subjects, grabbed his bag and slipped out of the door into the hallway. There were enough people wandering around that it didn't look odd for him to be wandering around.

From there, it was a piece of cake to slip out of the school building and towards the back of the property, where an old tree had some branches that went over the wall. The Kaiba Corporation security guards never caught on to this little escape route, they always seemed to expect him to exit from the front when slipping out. Hah. As -if-.

He slung his bag over one shoulder and gave himself a small running start before jumping up to grab the lowest branch. From there, it was just a matter of swinging his legs over it and clambering up without catching his hair on anything. That was the tricky part. Waist-length hair seemed to get -everywhere-. With a triumphant grin, he pulled himself onto the branch, tucking his feet up so the branches hid him completely.

It wasn't like he even had a set destination in mind of where to go. None of the so-called duellists in school would play him, because he was Kaiba Seto's Little Brother, and therefore must be cheating or have rigged his deck. No one would play CapMon with him for the same reason. And because he was the Champion, the cowards. He could go to the arcades, but a lot of the kids who snuck out of school to go hide there at this time of day knew him back from his 'The Ratfink Who Would Be King' stage and would try to finagle money from him. His fault for thinking that he could buy friends when he was younger.

So it looked like the library for him. Sure, it was slower trying to find stuff in books than running a word search on a computer, but there was something a bit more satisfying about it as well. Plus it was quiet and he could do his own reading that he didn't want 'Niisama to fret over and just think without interruptions. No one ever looked for him there.

Plan firmly in mind, he reached for the next branch and encountered something hard but slightly giving and covered in denim instead. Mokuba startled, glancing up and and discovered that lounging on what was usually his next handhold was his bodyguard.

"Yo." Jounouchi said with a sleepy wave.

"J-Jounouchi?!" Mokuba stammered, removing his hand from Jounouchi's thigh. "What are you doing here?!"

His blond bodyguard gave him a lazy smile that held just a touch of dark humour behind it. "I think the question is, what are -you- doing here? Don't you have class in... about a minute?"

"I... I was..." Crap. He didn't have an excuse for this. Didn't think he'd need one.

"Ditchin' class?" Jounouchi drawled, casually all-knowing. "Any particular reason?"

Mokuba glared. Dammit. He'd gotten Jounouchi as a bodyguard so he could -have- fun, not prevent his fun. "... It's boring."

Jounouchi mused that over. "At least you're honest." He finally shrugged.

"So you'll let me ditch?" Mokuba pressed.

"No."

Bastard.

"But..." Jounouchi smirked at him. "I can make a deal with you, if you want."

"... Oh?" Mokuba raised a suspicious eyebrow. "What kind of deal?"

Jounouchi twisted on the tree-branch to face him properly. "You give me your word you won't randomly ditch, and in exchange, if you -have- a good reason to ditch school, call me up and if it's important enough, we'll ditch together, okay?"

The blond really did take this body-guarding job too seriously. He was only supposed to watch Mokuba when he wasn't in school.

... oh. Right. Well, ditching was out of school, wasn't it?

"But no more than once every couple of weeks. You still need to keep your grades up and I know that you have meetings and stuff you have to go to instead of school anyway." Jounouchi chastised.

"And if I think this plan of yours sucks?" Mokuba pressed.

He got a wide grin in return. "You're forgetting what I did before I met Honda and Yuugi." Jounouchi tsk'ed playfully at him. "I was a good for nothing street punk, and nearly didn't pass Middle School because I ditched so often. And guess which school I ditched from?"

Domino Middle School. Of course. Crap.

"You try ditching without me and I'll let the school know all the ways to sneak out of the school." Jounouchi settled back down against the tree trunk with a smug lazy air. "And believe me, I know a lot more of them then you do. And if I catch you ditching, which I will, I'll throw you back in and let you explain it to your brother."

Double crap. And he would too, literally.

"I hate you." Mokuba finally decided. "Deal." He held his hand out. At least this way he could still get out of school occasionally. Although he'd have to wait and see if Jounouchi actually upheld his end of the bargain with the whole 'ditching with permission' thing.

Jounouchi took his hand and gave it a firm shake. "Good. Now go on, you've only got a little bit before the bell rings."

Mokuba muttered several uncomplimentary things under his breath as he scampered out of the tree and headed back to class at a brisk pace. He was just a few seconds tardy for the second bell, arriving after the teacher had gotten there.

"Kaiba Mokuba-kun." The teacher snapped at him as he tried to slink back to his desk. "What excuse do you have for being tardy?"

"Sorry, Ma'am." Mokuba apologised with a slight bow, realising that unlike trying to ditch, he had the perfect reason for being tardy to class. "-I was in the middle of business negotiations."

* * *

"Hey, Ryuu-san." Jounouchi leaned on the large fortress-like desk that housed Kaiba's secretary. He'd been afraid when he'd started the job that she'd be a total Ice Queen, or a Bitch or some sort of android to be able to deal with Kaiba all the time, but she actually seemed okay. A bit like a samurai's wife really, all polite and quiet dignity but ready to kill at a moment's notice should the situation call for it. But she didn't mind talking to Jounouchi if she wasn't busy. Or sometimes even if she was busy, Ryuu-san was good at multi-tasking, like she was doing currently. "I'm bored."

"It's your time off." She said, punching holes in some papers and putting them together in a binder. "Why don't you enjoy it?"

Jounouchi shrugged. He was still getting used to the Kaiba brothers and Kaiba Corporation. It still felt kind of weird to be here. At least Kaiba didn't seem interested in imposing any sort of dress code on him, so after trying to wear a business suit and tie, he'd given up, ditched the noose and gone back to his jeans. He still wore the business coat occasionally, but more often than not, he just wore the business shirt over a tee-shirt and called it decent.

Ryuu-san smirked at him, the professional mask bending enough to make her look vaguely matronly. "You could always get me a cup of coffee." She offered.

"Okay." Jounouchi pushed off the desk. "Where is it?"

She blinked at him, looking slightly startled and suspicious. Men usually didn't get women coffee in the business world, usually getting beverages or snacks was the 'woman's job'. He shrugged back. "I did a lotta part time jobs from Middle School on. M'used to doing stuff and being useful, not just standing around looking like another pretty face. How do ya like your coffee?"

"Black, four sugars." Ryuu-san said slowly, motioning towards the elevators. "Two floors down. Or there's the cafeteria on the sixth floor. Not that Kaiba-sama ever uses it." The last was said in a disapproving tone, like Kaiba was a misbehaving adolescent.

Jounouchi snickered. "He still skippin' lunches? Used to do that all the time in High School too. Always off by himself, playing with paperwork or fiddlin' with something on the laptop." He was half-expecting to discover one of these days that Kaiba actually slept upside down, hanging from the big blue canopy on his bed. But Jounouchi still wasn't entirely convinced Kaiba was completely human.

Ryuu-san gave a vaguely unlady-like snort at that, clearly communicating her displeasure at her boss' apparent disregard towards his own well-being.

Jounouchi chuckled in return and gave her a small wave. "Coffee, black, four sugars." He repeated, to make sure he'd gotten it right, just in case. "I'll be right back."

"See you then." Ryuu-san nodded with a faint quirk to her lips, like she'd believe it when she saw it. Jounouchi smirked back. Probably had been listening to stories about him from her boss. He hit the button for the elevator, which automatically opened for him. Lucky! Usually it took forever to wait for the elevator to make it to the top floor.

He went down two floors, past the all important mucky-mucks, to one of the offices, following his nose to the delicious scent of coffee.

And promptly ran into someone coming around the corner. "Kyaa!"

"Sorry!" He apologised, reaching out and steadying a mocha-haired girl carrying a pot of hot water. "Sorry!"

"I'm so very sorry! It was entirely my fault!" The nervous girl stammered, attempting to bow without sploshing the water and not quite succeeding at either.

"No, no! It's my fault." Jounouchi laughed, embarrassed. "I'm afraid I'm still learning my way around here."

"Ah! Myself as well." The girl gave him shy smile. "I'm Chai. Coffee Lady."

"Jounouchi. Bodyguard." Jounouchi grinned back. Just the person he was looking for. "And actually, I'm currently on a quest for a coffee with four sugars."

"In that case, Sir Bodyguard, I can help you with one part." Chai held up the half-full pot of hot water. "But I am terribly afraid I am out of sugar. I was just about to run to the cafeteria to fetch more."

Cafeteria was on the sixth floor, which he'd yet to go to. "I can do that." He offered.

"Oh, no! I couldn't possibly ask you to-"

He cut her off. "Hey, us newbies have to stick together, right?" He waved and headed back to the elevators. "I'll be back in a sec."

"Er... okay. Thank you."

'Sir Bodyguard', he chuckled to himself as he pressed the button for the elevator. Luckily it was still waiting for him and he stepped inside, the doors closing after him as he hit the button for the sixth floor. It really was starting to resemble a role playing game. To complete the quest for a cup of coffee, first he must complete the side quest, to get sugar for the coffee.

Then the doors opened to the sixth floor and the scent of cooking food hit his nose, his stomach growling. Hmm... perhaps he could pick up lunch while he was down here.

Or, he mused with a slightly evil grin as he perused the food selection, he should add an additional side quest to slay the dragon...

* * *

Seto looked down at the object that had been placed next to him as if it were a live rodent. "What is this?" He inquired, not entirely certain that the object did not contain a live rodent, considering it's source.

"I would think..." Jounouchi raised an eyebrow. "-that you would be able to recognise a turkey sandwich."

"I know what it is." Seto frowned back. It was from the downstairs cafeteria, he knew their selection of food quite well. "What is it -doing- here?"

Jounouchi obviously resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "It's for you." He explained not quite so patiently. "To eat. Y'know? Food?"

Seto's frowned deepened. "You were hired to guard Mokuba, not act as my nanny." He said dismissively, turning to go back to work. Surely the mutt could find some other productive way to entertain himself. Away from Seto.

"Anything that affects you affects Mokuba." The blonde retorted stubbornly. "If -you- pass out from low blood sugar, -I'm- gonna hafta deal with a panicked little brother. Eat."

Seto just raised a disdainful eyebrow at him before resolutely ignored him and resumed typing on the keyboard. No one told him what to do. Espeically not some mediocre duellist with barely acceptable fighting skills.

"Fine." Jounouchi growled. "I'm going to pick Mokuba up from school. We should be back in half an hour. If the sandwich isn't eaten by then, I'm shoving it down your throat."

With that, he turned and stalked off. Seto snickered, ignoring the blond's moronic display of temper. Like that was going to happen.

Half an hour later, a suspicious Jounouchi returned. The sandwich remained in its original position, untouched.

Jounouchi did exactly what he said he was going to do.

Mokuba helped.

* * *

To Be Continued...


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Guard Dog  
**Author: **Icka! M. Chif  
**Date Started:** 8 July 2003  
**Word Count:** 154,800 as of 17 Oct 2007  
**This Post:** 9,176  
**Author Notes:** Thanks to all of the people who spoke up to correct any mistakes they found in this chapter and the previous one. They've been corrected. We really appreciate it!  
-As far as the question of pairing, the focus is Jounouchi/Kaiba, but nothing happens for the first 100,000 words and then it twists. No worries. Relax, sit back, and enjoy the ride.

* * *

Jounouchi hated mornings. It was the worst part of the day.

Here he was, working a stable, steady job, which is more than anyone thought he could ever do, and doing a fairly good job at it too, if he did say so himself. But was he allowed to lie around in the morning, relax and maybe take in a cup of coffee? No.

Mornings were what he was beginning to refer to as 'His Blue Period'. As in 'Black and Blue'.

Because every morning instead of waking up, stumbling around to get dressed and eat breakfast, he was woken up by that obnoxious jerk Kaiba and dragged off outside to one of the grassy gardens for quote 'practice' unquote.

Or, as Kaiba would put it, in 'dog terms': Being tossed around the room by one stuffed shirt billionaire named Kaiba Seto under the guise of improving his fighting skills. Privately, Jounouchi thought it was Kaiba Stress Relief.

But he couldn't deny that his fighting was improving between the three months under Sensei and these morning 'Sparring Sessions'.

And right about now, from his position eating grass, neither could Kaiba.

Funnily enough, the first thought that went through his head was not victory or triumph at his finally pinning Kaiba, but a faint bit of horror that he was -really- going to pay for this later.

In the background, he could hear some of the gardeners, who were used to watching him get tossed into their nicely manicured lawn on a daily basis, making a faint buzzing sound as they talked in the background. A few of them had joked with him at various times about placing bets on who was going to win. He'd teased back that it was rigged, no one was going to bet against the boss, to which they had readily agreed. Well, now it seemed like at least some were going to bet against the boss from now on.

Although, new bets were probably going to be placed on his life span after this...

He released Kaiba and quickly backed up, giving the volatile businessman plenty of room to get up in. Which Kaiba did quickly, the gleam in his eyes reminding Jounouchi of the Blue Eyes White Dragon just before a big attack.

Then Kaiba did something even scarier than facing down the wrath of one of his dragons.

He smiled.

A smug, self-satisfied twitch of the lips that was more terrifying than any loud shouts and death threats could have been.

"Good job." Kaiba commented mildly before straightening his clothing in that prim way of his and walking off towards the house.

Jounouchi stared after him. Good job? Good JOB?! Well, yeah, he supposed that's what Kaiba was training him for, to be able to fight someone and win, but still... Good job?

All things considered he would have preferred a pat on the head and some cryptic comment about him being a well-trained mutt.

Less disturbing.

* * *

Seto smirked as the blond looked over the newspaper headlines with a comically surprised look. "I don't believe it." The bodyguard muttered, surprise fading into disturbed as he sat back in his seat in the limo, next to Mokuba.

"Believe it." Seto rumbled, shaking the newspaper slightly so it stayed upright. After all, the blond had been there for the majority of the turn of events.

Last week, Seto had been walking through Kaiba Land with Mokuba and the Mutt when he'd noticed a map of the amusement park on the ground. So he'd picked it up and placed it in the paper rubbish bin, to be recycled later.

This rather mundane act had managed to catch a minor amount of media attention, sending rumours fast and furious about Kaiba Land custodial department being under scrutiny and people being fired. Which, of course, was a load of bull.

Finally, a clever member of the media had asked him for a statement. He'd responded with a line about if he didn't take care of his own property, how was he supposed to take care of anything else?

Considering that he practically owned Domino City and several large chunks of land across the globe for his amusement parks, this was not an idle comment. The citizens of Domino City had liked this comment, as it apparently made him sound like a very responsible person. His popularity, and thus Kaiba Corporation's, had risen considerably.

Which in turn, meant that Kaiba Corporation stocks had risen considerably in the past several days.

The blond looked up at Seto, still looking disturbed. "You pick up ONE piece of paper, and earn several billion yen?!"

"Yes." Seto smirked, rustling the newspapers again. And earned him a name as someone who cared about the environment, to boot.

Mokuba patted the blond on the shoulder. "Welcome to the Game of Business." Mokuba said, not entirely unsympathetically, but with a definite undercurrent of amusement. Mokuba had been the one to suggest this little scenario.

The gob-smacked look on the blond's face was almost as sweet as the money he had just earned for doing practically nothing.

* * *

"Jounouchi..." Small hands shook his shoulder "Jounouchi!! Wake up! Please wake up!" 

" Mmmplgh." He rolled over, waving a lazy arm in the direction of the voice. "G'way."

"Jounouchi, PLEASE!" Finally, the insistent voice was enough to snap him out of his slumber. Sheesh, it felt like he had just gotten to bed...

"Mokuba?" He grumbled, opening his eyes and sitting up, grateful he'd put on pyjama bottoms tonight. Although if late night visitors were going to become the norm, he might want to debate about sleeping in a shirt as well, like Mokuba was wearing. Although he'd really prefer to skip the whole pyjama thing altogether. The youngest Kaiba was staring at him, dark hair and eyes wild and chaotic. "Wassup?"

"It's..." The younger boy hesitated, as if uncertain what to do now that he had his attention. "It's 'Niisama. He won't wake up."

"It's the middle of the night, Mokuba." Jounouchi pointed out logically. He'd hope that Kaiba was asleep. Like he'd hope to be.

"No, you don't understand!" Mokuba was practically vibrating with distress. "'Niisama... 'Niisama has nightmares. Bad ones. Really bad ones, from like, before. They got REALLY bad after the Other Yuugi made him experience death and even worse after he made 'Niisama put his heart back together, but they'd been getting better. He used to wake me screaming..."

"Okay," He wouldn't admit it, but the hairs on the back of his neck were starting to stand upright just from the sheer amount of terror and panic the teen put into the descriptions of the nightmares. He'd -been- there when Yuugi had broken the elder Kaiba's heart to fix it. And after some of the situations and duels they'd been in, even he'd had some real doozies of his own when it came to nightmares. "Okay. Whaddya want me ta do?"

"Come on." Mokuba grabbed his hand, like he was much younger than his fourteen years and dragged him out of the bed and down the hall to Kaiba's bedroom. Jounouchi followed with some trepidation. He was getting used to Ol' Blue Eyes, as he lived and learned about him, but that didn't necessarily mean he was -fond- of Kaiba Seto.

"In here." Mokuba tugged him towards the giant four poster bed that was the central feature of the master suite. "He usually calms down once he knows I'm here, but it doesn't seem to be working. You sleep on his other side."

Eeeeeeh? Sleep? Next to Kaiba? What the hell?

Heedless to his reluctance, Mokuba climbed into the big bed next to his brother, careful not to pin any limbs or actually restrain his brother. Just be near enough for his presence to be noticeable. Jounouchi took a few steps closer, keeping an eye on Kaiba, just in case. The brunette was pale against his sheets, beads of sweat beading against his forehead, making Kaiba look ill instead of caught in the throws of a nightmare. Even if he was tenser than a twig ready to snap.

However, the messed up state of the bed spoke otherwise. A keening noise escaped from Kaiba's clenched jaws, causing Jounouchi to jump.

"Jounouchi." Mokuba looked up at him. He sighed. Damn it all. He slowly climbed onto the bed, careful of where he put his hands and feet as Mokuba began to talk, explaining that he was here, Gozaburou was dead, Jounouchi was here as well, 'Niisama was safe now, he could sleep easier. After a while it seemed to work, the stiff-corpse like posture of Kaiba melting into a more natural approximation to sleep, some of the colour returning to his face. Mokuba's voice trailed off into a slow whisper as he fell asleep as well, his body curling up against his brother.

He snorted softly to himself. Both Kaiba looked more innocent like this, younger. Heck, even Kaiba looked more like his actual age instead of an old man in a young body.

He yawned, stretching out to sleep. He'd catch a few zzz's here, then take Mokuba back in a few hours, to make sure they wouldn't have a repeat of this tonight.

In the meantime, he'd guard their slumber.

It was in his job description after all.

... wasn't it?

* * *

His office door opened, then shut quickly, footsteps approaching the desk, then stopping in front of him. Seto snarled silently. He'd given his secretary explicit orders not to allow anyone in here, upon pain of decapitation. Or some other severe body-reducing event.

However, when he glanced up to rip who ever had interrupted his work a new one, the words stopped dead in his throat.

Ass.

An ass so tight you could bounce coins off of it, clad in a pair jeans so worn that denim had turned into a soft flexible material that covered those curves in an all-revealing loving grasp.

Seto found himself drooling like Pavlov's Dog.

Then that ass turned around, to reveal an equally as impressive crotch in the front, with a not insignificant bulge pressing against the zipper. The jeans rode low, flashes of smooth belly teasing over the top of an equally worn leather belt.

Oh... my...

"Dammit, Mokuba..." The muttered voice startled him out of his revere as he jerked his head up out of crotch level to look up into the face of one slightly annoyed looking Guard Dog. Jounouchi turned in a circle again, arms reaching behind him to mess with the belt, something furry obscuring his view of that ass. "-How the hell am I supposed to attach this freakin' tail?!"

Belatedly, Seto noticed that the mutt was also wearing a pair of dog-ears, similar to the golden-retriever blond hair on the crown of his head. And a leather vest. Where the hell had those come from?! More importantly, why was the mutt actually wearing them?

And was that a dog collar wrapped around the mutt's neck?

He pointedly cleared his throat, stopping the mutt from completing yet another circle in front of him. While it was highly amusing and made for wonderful entertainment, it was also very distracting.

"Oh. Kaiba." Jounouchi looked at him from under that mop of golden hair, looking more puppy-like than normal. "Just wanted to let you know Mokuba and I are on our way out. We should be back around midnight."

"Dressed like that?" He inquired loftily, allowing himself to lean back in the chair and take in the entire ensemble. Rips and tears in the jeans he hadn't noticed before gave him glimpses of solid muscles under the soft material and were probably the only thing that were allowing the mutt to move in pants that tight.

Jounouchi rolled his eyes. "It's a -costume- party to celebrate the beginning of the school year, it bein' his first year of High School and all. I'm a werewolf, Mokuba's a vampire-? Your brother's only told you what? A dozen times every day for the past week?"

Of course. How ridiculous of him. He'd finally given permission for his brother to go, only if the guard dog went along with to watch over things.

... in that outfit, there'd be no problems at the party because everyone would be too busy watching HIM.

"Right." Seto nodded, long used to not showing what he was thinking on his face. Not that he worried about the puppy actually reading his facial expressions. He was well aware of exactly what the mutt thought of him.

He did -not- have something stuck up his ass.

Now, Jounouchi's ass...

"Have a good time." He dismissed the guard dog and bent his head back to his task, pretending to be absorbed in his work. "And tell Mokuba I said eleven-thirty, no later."

"Yeah, yeah." The mutt grumbled, heading back to the main doors, muttering to himself about being polite and ungrateful heartless brainless dickless bastards.

Seto didn't feel terribly bad about it. After all, the original agreement had been for them to be home by eleven. But he was used to playing these games with Mokuba. However, the mutt in the middle was a new twist to their minor power plays.

But the view as the mutt left was very nice... The jeans clung to those curves very well. Just how long had the mutt had those pants?

It was very nice the mutt was leaving, yes, that was it. No thoughts about tight denim or leather or the like in his head. Business.

Besides. It wasn't like he found the annoying blond -attractive- or anything.

His secretary was watching the mutt leave as well, a glazed expression falling across her face as the blond gave a friendly wave good-bye. He saw her then proceed to lean off the side of her desk, to further watch the mutt's exit before his doors shut, blocking his view of them both.

He hit the intercom button. "Do you require a bucket?" He inquired icily.

"Bucket?" She stammered.

"For the drool?"

"N-no."

"Good. Keep it that way." With an angry jab, he turned off the intercom.

Damn fools, staring at HIS mutt.

* * *

"Oi, Mokuba..." Jounouchi didn't bother looking away from the large television screen as he trounced the younger Kaiba in a racing video game. "How come your brother wears all those buckles and stuff? He tryin' ta outdo Yuugi in the bondage statement department or something?" 

The dark haired boy snorted, not quite breaking out into full laughter. "Didn't you know? 'Niisama's got this anti-gravity problem, from a lab accident. If he doesn't strap his clothing to him, it'll all go flying off."

"Yer kidding." The blond tore his gaze from the screen to stare at the wild haired teen. "Tell me yer kiddin'."

"Yup!" Mokuba laughed, using the distraction to pull his racer ahead of Jounouchi's. Jounouchi muffled a curse and turned his attention back to the game.

"Brat."

Mokuba snickered in return, even as Jounouchi regained his number one spot on the track. "Nah. Honestly, it's the intimidation factor. Can you see anyone else wearing that?"

Yuugi in Kaiba's clothing... "No." Jounouchi cut off that train of thought, remembering that werewolf costume Mokuba had talked him into for the costume party. Mokuba had ended up playing -his- bodyguard, not the other way around. It seemed like everyone and their mother had been trying to pet him. Too weird. "Wait... So you're the one responsible for those outfits? I would have thought you'd have everyone running around in stripes."

"What's wrong with stripes?!" Mokuba demanded, making an effort to pull ahead. Jounouchi blocked him with a mad cackle. "Better than that purple trench coat of his. -I- certainly never would have chosen that. Can we say 'grape'?"

"Yeah, that was a little fruity, wasn't it?" Jounouchi smirked. Mokuba ran his car into Jounouchi's in retaliation. Jounouchi grinned. "So is he colour blind? Y'know, why you put him in black and white so much."

"That's cause the contrast is dramatic." Mokuba explained. "And it freaks the hell out of the Board Members. He's been running the company for how many years now and they still can't get him regularly into a suit and tie?" The smaller teen chuckled with malicious amusement. There was no love lost between the Kaiba Brothers and the Kaiba Corporation Board Members.

"Hafta agree on the dramatic part." He agreed. The strange flared outfits certainly leant to the frightening air that caused many of the weaker duellists to run screaming at just their first sight of Kaiba. He grinned. "-Or it could be that he simply doesn't like ties."

Mokuba snorted, drawing attention to their own causal clothing --neither of them would ever voluntarily be caught dead wearing anything resembling a tie.

"Point." Jounouchi conceded.

"You know..." Mokuba said thoughtfully "We're going to have to go shopping at some point. If I gotta go to some fancy shindig, that means you've gotta go too and I know for a fact you don't have anything formal enough to wear in your closet."

The word was little more than a squeak out of his throat. "Shopping?"

"Yup." He didn't have to look to see Mokuba's grin turn fierce, predator like. He'd seen it well enough when the younger boy had talked him into wearing his oldest, worn pair of jeans for the werewolf costume. The younger Kaiba already had something planned in that devious little brain of his, something that did NOT bode well for what remained of Jounouchi's sanity. "It'll be -fun-."

Mokuba's car pulled ahead of his, beating his to the finish line.

"...Shit."

* * *

Seto looked down at the object that had been placed next to him as if it were a live rodent. However, this time instead of wasting time asking about what was obviously a tuna sandwich, he glanced up at the bearer of food. The mutt had a dark scowl on his face, jaw set determinedly.

Mindful of what had happened the last time food had been brought to him, he glanced away, resuming typing. "I do not require a nursemaid."

"Yeah, well maybe if you didn't spend all yer time nursemaidin' everyone else, ya wouldn't need someone to act as one." The blond was obstinate.

"Is that a threat?"

Jounouchi leaned forward and -grinned-. "Just remindin' ya of what happened last time. I'll see ya in half an hour. With Mokuba."

With that, the mutt sauntered out.

Seto snorted in disdain as the doors shut, pointedly not watching the other man's exit.

However, once he was certain that he was in no danger of being observed, he began to eat. But only half the sandwich.

After all, no one ordered a Kaiba around. No one.

The next evening, upon retiring to his rooms, he found an outfit laying out on the bed. It was remarkably similar to his clothing from Battle City. A black turtleneck, buckles, belts and a white over garment with studs around the flared shoulders.

That was where the similarities ended.

Because despite the similarities, it was obviously a maid's uniform, the white garment in question a rather dangerous looking apron over what would clearly be a tight black dress.

The Mutt was extremely unsubtle when it came to getting his point across. 'Nursemaid' indeed.

... Mokuba probably helped, the brat.

* * *

"C'mon, Mokuba. Help me out here." Jounouchi muttered as he hefted the fourteen-soon-to-be-fifteen year-old out of his brother's bed. Kaiba would be getting up in about an hour, which meant it was time for them to get back into their own beds before Ol' Blue Eyes rose and found them there.

Which would be a lot easier if Mokuba was still the cute LITTLE eleven-year-old he had been when they had first met. He wouldn't be the slightest bit amazed if Mokuba ended up taller than his brother in a few years. He was almost halfway there as it was.

In the mean time, it was a good thing that Jounouchi had been working out lately or he wouldn't be able to do this at all. It was a very good thing he could catch a few hour naps while Mokuba was at Domino High, or he'd never get through the day.

Although just getting through the morning sparring sessions with the 'Ol Blue Eyed Dragon there was interesting. One of these mornings, he was just going to leave Mokuba on his brother's bed and let him explain.

Eh, Mokuba could probably talk his way out of it, saying it was a nightmare.

Yawning, he deposited Mokuba in his bed, pulling the blankets over the sleeping kid. This was probably what it was like to have kids of your own, the strange wake up calls in the middle of the night. This certainly hadn't been part of the job description when he signed on.

Course, neither was sleeping with the ice bastard Kaiba either.

Sleep. As in just sleeping. Not sharing a bed for any recreational purposes. Nothing like that. Not that he -wanted- to do anything in a bed with the bastard Kaiba...

Jeez, it was too early in the morning for this. He hadn't even woken up yet and his mind was already playing tricks with the innuendo. Maybe it was time to start looking for a girlfriend...

He shut the door to Mokuba's room and wandered over to his own, stretching absentmindedly. Sleep. Sleep was good. He still had about an hour of rest before Kaiba woke him up to get sweaty and grapple.

Again with the innuendo!

Eh, fack it. The lack of sleep was getting to him.

* * *

Seto muffled a yawn as he typed, pausing rub at the bridge of his nose, temporarily displacing his computer glasses. His sleeping patterns were changing and he'd yet to adjust to the new routines.

He'd driven himself to work late and rise early for years, partly to exhaust himself to the point where he wouldn't dream, partly because the company had needed it. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, keeping Kaiba Corporation from the vultures no longer demanded the insane hours it once had. No longer having to waste time with the farce called High School had helped as well, although he had enrolled in some on-line computer classes, so he wasn't entirely title-less in the education department.

The nightmares of his youth still occasionally plagued him, although lately they seemed to be fading somewhat. And with the fading of the nightmares, he was getting more sleep at night. Which one should have suspected would lead to him having more energy during the day, except for the fact he often woke up to find his limbs heavy, like they were just getting blood flow restored to them.

More sleep, yes. Just not always of the better quality. And while it did appear that the nightmares were getting less frequent, much to his regret, last night had been one of the bad nights. He could definitely feel it today.

The door opened, a shaggy blond head peeking in without knocking first. Seto dropped his hand, resuming typing. He still wasn't entirely sure what to make of Jounouchi's presence in his life. The blond wasn't as big of a disruption as he would have once thought, they still baited each other, but it seemed to be more out of habit than anything else. And amusement on Seto's part.

At least Mokuba seemed happier. That was the important part. For Mokuba's happiness, he'd put up with a lot more than an annoying blond in attractively tight jeans.

The mutt crept closer to the desk, setting down a large lidded white cup on the desk by Seto's monitor. One of Seto's eyebrows rose as he glanced at it, Jounouchi already turning to walk away. "What's this?" He questioned. Not a sandwich this time, something new.

"Coffee." The blond shot back with a shrug, but his shoulders were braced, as if expecting either a verbal explosion or to dodge an attack.

Seto reached out, picked up the cup and took a cautious sip. The savoury bitter flavour of coffee exploded across his tongue. Coffee, -Good- Coffee, black and bitter with just the barest hint of vanilla and hazelnut in it. He could feel his energy levels rise just from the small taste.

Caffeine, Nectar of the Gods. He was going to nominate Jounouchi to Sainthood. If not Sainthood, then a Vice Presidency or something.

He grunted and set the cup down. "It'll do." Seto said grudgingly.

Jounouchi made an amused sound, shoulders relaxing as he continued walking out of the office. The blond had probably asked someone how Seto took his coffee, to get it the way Seto liked it. And had bothered to realise that Seto needed a caffeine fix in the first place, something that he didn't need to bother concerning himself about.

The blond did that a lot. It still puzzled Seto, there wasn't anything to earn by doing so.

"Thanks." He said quietly, before resuming his typing.

Jounouchi paused as he opened the door, as if surprised by the break in their usual semi-hostile bickering. "Welcome." The blond said quietly, flashing Seto a quick cheerful grin, the likes of which were usually reserved for Yuugi, before he vanished out the door.

Seto reached for the cup again, taking a sip. Heaven.

Okay, so perhaps the mutt had his uses after all. Maybe Seto could tolerate to keep him around, just for a little while.

* * *

"Yuuuuuuuuugiiii!!" While the smaller man was expecting a joyful welcome from his best friend Jounouchi, he was not expecting the double tackle he got from his best friend AND the younger Kaiba as soon the door opened to the Kaiba household.

The younger Kaiba who was now slightly taller than him, with a great deal more mass as well.

"Aah! Nice to know I'm welcomed..." He commented weakly, the breath nearly squeezed out of him.

Jounouchi was a hands-on, easy to read person. If he liked you, you got hugs, play-wrestling and hair mussings. If he didn't like you, you got fists in the face and feet in the gut. Mokuba in the past had been affectionate only towards his brother, but several months in Jounouchi's influence had obviously changed that.

Both ends of the 'Yuugi sandwich' snickered happily, shaking him slightly before they broke apart, pulling him to the warmth of the mansion.

"Wasn't sure if you'd really come or not!" Mokuba grinned; bouncing around him as Jounouchi took his pack. "Cause 'Niisama's gonna be here too, but I made him promise not to challenge you to any duels. It'd be a shame to ruin a perfectly good movie night fighting."

Hint hint, nudge nudge. "I'll do my best not to challenge him to any duels either." He promised.

"You'd think Duellin' was all anybody ever thought about in this household." Jounouchi grumbled good-naturedly. This earned him wide-eyed incredulous looks from both the still Number One Ranking Duellist and the Number Two Ranking Duellist's younger brother.

"It's not?!"

Yuugi found himself being pulled through the maze of the house by Mokuba, both of them laughing madly as Jounouchi chased them, mildly cursing all the way. The blond chased them around a large room obviously meant as a comfortable living room, the three of them ducking, dodging and scrambling over furniture, their laughter punctuated by the occasional yips and yells until they collapsed in a snickering heap on the sofa.

He glanced up in time to see the elder Kaiba standing in the doorway with a dispassionate eye. "Yo, Kaiba-kun!" He waved.

Kaiba inclined his head and walked away.

"Don't take it personally." Mokuba suggested from his sprawled position, pinning Jounouchi's legs to the sofa. "He's just not used to having other people in the house."

"Oi, Mokuba." Jounouchi prodded the dark haired boy with a leg. "Is he? ...Y'know. Tonight."

The younger Kaiba seemed to know immediately what the blond was saying. "He should be fine."

"Okay." Any apparent worry dissipated at Mokuba's words. Yuugi raised an eyebrow. Jounouchi? Worrying about Kaiba? When did this happen?

Of course, he supposed that having lived under the same roof as him for the past several months might have had something to do with it. And Jounouchi had yet to show up at the game shop cursing and sputtering like he used to after an encounter with Kaiba, so that was a positive sign.

Yuugi grinned. It was always nice to see his friends get along.

"So, food first or movie first or just grab snacks to watch during movie?" Jounouchi was practically crackling with glee, nearly pushing the two smaller people off the sofa onto the floor.

"Food!" Mokuba cheered, hopping off. "We can bring it up here and watch the movie!"

Jounouchi just grinned, glancing over with a slightly apologetic shrug. "What can I say? Kid after my own heart."

"You've trained him well, Jounouchi-kun."

"Hey!"

Several hours later, the spiky haired boy glanced down at his best friend, who was sprawled out over two of the three futons they had put on the floor and snoring. Mokuba wasn't much better, using Jounouchi's rising and falling chest as a pillow, snoring in counterpoint to the blond.

Yuugi smiled serenely at his friends. They had worn each other out, watching the movies, munching on popcorn and junk food, wrestling like kids and chattering away at each other. He should really be asleep like them; he'd been just as bad as the two of them, but he wanted to enjoy the peaceful moment a while longer.

Jounouchi seemed happy here. Yuugi was both relived and uneasy. Jounouchi and Mokuba got along well, but he had a few unanswered questions. Most of them dealing with the taller man standing in the doorway silently watching them.

He slipped out from under Jounouchi's sprawled arm and quietly padded over to Kaiba. Once again, he wished he were just a little bit taller. It was hard to feel intimidating when you barely came up to someone's chest. They stood in silence for several minutes, watching the sleepers, before Kaiba finally acknowledged him.

"Yuugi."

"Kaiba-kun."

Silence followed. Yuugi sparkled at the stoic businessman. "It's nice to see my friends finally getting along."

Kaiba grunted, not willing to admit to any claim of friendship.

Yuugi smiled wider. "And I just wanted to let you know that while I may not have a puzzle any longer, I do have a shovel." He said sweetly. He had a frying pan too, but that didn't sound nearly as threatening. "And a former tomb robber that owes me a favour or two."

Actually, it was more like he owed Bakura a favour or two, but the former past-life tomb robber would probably be more than happy to help out...

And if he didn't, Malik knew the -best- places to hide a body.

An eyebrow lifted, Kaiba turning the full force of his attention at him. "Is that a threat?" The words were a low hiss, a menacing rumble from a not-quite slumbering dragon.

"No. Just letting you know." He smiled cheerfully. "Jounouchi-kun is my best friend. I don't want to see him hurt."

He liked to see his friends get along. However, that did not mean he was going to stand by and do nothing if his friends were hurting each other. And Jounouchi was far less likely to hurt Kaiba then Kaiba was to hurt Jounouchi. Although, granted, Kaiba was more likely to do it without realising it.

"I have no interest in the puppy." Kaiba said disdainfully, returning his attention towards the slumbering boys again. "He's Mokuba's concern, not mine."

Yuugi nodded. And that would be why Jounouchi talked about the older Kaiba as often as he did Mokuba. And why Kaiba was staring at Jounouchi as much as he was his brother...

Well, he supposed some things never changed. Kaiba was and probably always would be stubborn, especially when it came to letting people in close around him. It was just one of those things that made him Kaiba.

Just as Jounouchi was stubborn when it came to the people he cared about.

It would be interesting to see who would win the clash of the thick skulls.

"Just so long as we both know where the other stands." He smiled genteelly and patted Kaiba on the arm. "Good night, Kaiba-kun. Sleep well."

Kaiba grunted in response. Yuugi merely bowed his head and returned to the futons, curling up next to Jounouchi again.

He was aware of the taller boy's presence lurking in the doorway for a while before he fell asleep.

When Yuugi woke up again a few hours before dawn, he was surprised when he glanced around the unfamiliar surroundings to count three heads beside his own on the futons instead of two.

Jounouchi was next to him, snoring away softly. On the far end he could make out Mokuba's wild locks.

And Kaiba slept peacefully nestled in between the two of them, Mokuba now partly sprawled across his brother instead of his keeper. Jounouchi hadn't seemed to have noticed, one of his arms draped across Kaiba where it had earlier been around Mokuba.

He hid a grin; silently wishing his Other Self could see this, their fearsome rival looking not quite so fierce, in a peaceful way.

One thing his Other Self had taught him was that there was an art to sharing a bed with another person. It had been awkward, the first several times his Other Self had slept outside of the puzzle, for one reason or another. Didn't matter that they were two parts of a whole, or that they were similar sizes, it was just... odd, to be asleep and roll over and find someone there. Limbs didn't match up, waking up with hair, non-corporal or not, in your face and mouth.

Not to mention buckles getting tangled up...

But after a while, they just kind of figured it out. Yuugi had always slept better with his Other Self nearby, feeling safe, protected. The same when Jounouchi had moved in with him as well.

He'd fallen out of the habit, his Other Self having passed on and Jounouchi having left the Game Shop, but none of his current bed companions apparently had any of that awkwardness.

Almost made him wonder. Maybe they were getting along better then either was saying.

A yawn blind-sided him and he lay back down, snuggled contentedly next to his larger friend's side. It was nice to sleep next to someone, almost as good as it had been when his Other Self had been there...

He was willing to bet that by the time he woke up again it would be the three of them again, leaving them to wonder if Kaiba had visited them or not. He smiled as Mokuba stirred and whispered his brother's name, clinging to Kaiba like he was afraid his brother was going to disappear on them.

On the other hand, perhaps it wasn't any of his business.

But it certainly would be interesting to see how everything would turn out.

* * *

Wake up.

Climb out of Kaiba's bed.

Put Mokuba back in his bed.

Go back to sleep. In own bed.

Wake up.

Glare at smirking bastard Kaiba.

Go to spar.

Hand Kaiba his ass.

Get ass handed back several times.

Take shower.

Get dressed.

Wake up Mokuba.

Eat breakfast.

Finally wake up. Coffee good.

Notice something odd in reflection of coffeepot.

"WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM?!"

"Language, Jounouchi." Mokuba scolded from over his bowl of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs.

"Yeah... but... but... " Jounouchi gestured empathically towards his reflection, then reversed the motion and tugged at the leather collar around his neck.

The collar with the initials 'KC' hanging from the front like tags on a dog's collar. It certainly hadn't been on him when he went to sleep last night...

"Oh. Cool!" Mokuba grinned. "I see you got a communicator!"

"Communicator?" What did that have to do with dog collars?!

"Yeah." Mokuba turned the collar of his school uniform to one side, to show off the 'KC' pin displayed there. "'Niisama and I use them to communicate, usually while hosting a duel. It's easier than a phone, cause all you have to do is press it once to start talking, so it's hands free, which is nice when we're looking for trouble. It's pretty much for emergency use only. Since you got one, I think this means that 'Niisama finally accepts you as my guard."

Oh.

Well, that still didn't explain how the dog collar got there...

Note to self: Get more sleep. Obviously messing with awareness levels.

"Couldn't I have gotten something round? Something that screams less 'Property of Kaiba Corporation'?"

* * *

"Yer fooling me." 

Mokuba smirked. "Nope."

Jounouchi's eyebrows disappeared into his hair as he looked around the volcanic island Mokuba had dragged him to. "Kaiba's opening a Duelling School?" On a possibly dormant volcanic island, no less.

"Academia." Mokuba affirmed.

"Ya mean that ownin' the rights to the duelling equipment, the theme parks and the tournaments aren't enough? He's gotta start his own school too?"

"Yeah, well..." Mokuba shrugged. "Look at it this way. The really -good- Duellists do really bad in school, right?"

"Well..." The blond scratched his head. "I prolly wouldn't have done much better even without ditching to attend tournaments. But Yuugi went from being one of the highest ranking students to one of the lowest after startin' Duel Monsters."

"Exactly. The good Duellists, the serious ones, don't tend to do as well in school -because- they spend all that time away from it for Tournaments and Duels and such. So if you have a school -for- Duelling..."

"...Then the serious Duellists have a way to Duel, go to school and even possibly graduate."

"You got it." Mokuba's grin lit up his entire face. "And Kaiba Corporation has an immediate target audience to test and give us feedback on the latest duelling innovations too."

"Beta testing and feedback, all in one centralised location." Jounouchi grinned, putting his new-found business knowledge to work. Mokuba had been a patient teacher, teaching him the jargon and the behind the scenes of the business world once he'd admitted he was clueless as to what exactly everyone was busy with. Suddenly what had seemed like mindless meetings made sense. Or some of them anyway, some of them -were- really mindless. But it was really surprising to realise just exactly how hard Kaiba worked. "Smart."

"Yes!" Mokuba cheered. "He -can- be taught!!!"

"Eh, shaddup." It wasn't nice to hit your boss... it wasn't nice to hit your boss... However, hair noogies were okay. Which he then quickly proceeded to do, gleefully wrapping an arm around the wild-haired boy's neck and proceeding to rub the knuckles of his fist into Mokuba's scalp. The teen squawked, laughed and attempted to squirm his way out of Jounouchi's grasp.

Which is how Kaiba found them when he stepped back into the entrance way to the school to see what was holding them up. One perfectly arched eyebrow rose at the display of roughhousing. "If you're done molesting my brother..."

"'NIISAMA!!!!" Mokuba's screech would have been pure comedy in motion, if it hadn't come from less than a hand's breadth from his ear. He quickly released his grip so that the younger teen could charge and attempt to strangle his older brother.

Which was a sight that more than made up for the temporary deafness in one ear...

Grinning slightly to himself, he followed the Kaiba brothers into what was shaping up to be... well, a school. Dorms, Classrooms, Cafeteria, Gymnasium, Auditorium.

State of the Art Duelling Arenas.

Sweet.

Kaiba grunted upon noticing Jounouchi's attention to the large platforms and hologram projectors. "They should be working. Still need to do some testing to see if the new modifications work."

Mokuba got that look that meant he just went from zero to forty in two brain cells flat. Jounouchi held up a hand as he began to look between the two taller men with a calculating gleam in his eyes. "Oh, no..."

"Aw, come on..." Mokuba wheedled.

Kaiba glanced nervously between the two of them.

"It's perfect." Mokuba continued blithely. "You both have your decks, don't you?"

"The Mutt?" The sound out of Kaiba's mouth is halfway between a squeak and a growl.

"Oi. I could kick your butt."

"Unlikely."

Jounouchi grinned, wolf like. Gotcha. "Put yer skills where your mouth is, Dragon-boy."

Slight pause from Kaiba, then the Blue Eyes look came over his features, the one that said that someone was going to be on the end of a dragon driven Burst Stream soon. "You're on."

A cheer from Mokuba, a wave to the technicians and they were on their way up the raised platforms to duel it out. Jounouchi glanced down at his charge, realising that Mokuba was looking back and forth between them with obvious conflict.

"Oi, Mokuba!" He waved. "Cheer us both on!"

Panic disappeared from Mokuba's eyes as the kid waved back. Mokuba may have liked him, but Kaiba was his brother. It wasn't fair to make him choose between the two of them in who to cheer on.

Then it was time to duel.

* * *

"YE-AH!!" Mokuba cheered, bouncing around. "That was so cool!!! Both the Blue Eyes White Dragon AND the Red Eyes Black Dragon!!! At the same time!!! Whoooooooo!!!" Not that he'd inherited his brother's fondness for dragons, no... 

"Yeah!" Jounouchi grinned, slapping Mokuba five on one of Mokuba's passes. Jounouchi was feeling pretty darn good about the duel from the looks of it.

'Niisama gave them both a stony look. "You lost." He pointed out to Jounouchi, clearly not comprehending their obvious enthusiasm.

"Yeah, but it was a close loss." Jounouchi's grin grew wider, if that was possible at all. "If Time Wizard hadn't landed on the skull, I would have kicked your ass and you know it."

This earned him a disdainful snort. "Placing the outcome of the entire duel on one spin-"

"Works well fer me, so shaddup about it." Jounouchi drawled lazily. "You got yer techniques, I got mine. And next time, we're gonna cream ya."

"'We'-?" 'Niisama asked archly as Mokuba watched the verbal spat go back and forth like it was a tennis match. 'Niisama really was warming up to Jounouchi well, Mokuba grinned to himself. Six months ago 'Niisama wouldn't have bothered to discuss the match at all.

"Me and the rest of my deck." Jounouchi grinned toothily. "Why? Ya nervous?"

"Hardly." But there weren't any comments about not wasting the energy on a lower ranking worthy duellist, which was a step in the right direction. Sometimes with 'Niisama, it was more what he didn't say than what he did say.

"So what's with the colour scheme around here anyway?" Jounouchi asked, changing the subject as he glanced around. "Red, Blue, Yellow. Your designer guys forget the rest of the colour palette?"

"The three levels of classes, actually." Kaiba informed him mildly, although there was still a touch of disdain in his tone. "Obelisk Blue, Ra Gold, and Osiris Red."

"Who's top?"

"Obelisk, actually. Ra is the middle level for duellists who test well coming in and Osiris is left for rabble-rousers and lower class players."

Jounouchi paused and Mokuba had to refrain from laughing as Jounouchi put it together. Obelisk been 'Niisama's card at the start of Battle City, just as Osiris became Yuugi's. And Osiris was the lowest level.

"Still got some animosity there, huh Kaiba?" Jounouchi said, glancing at 'Niisama sideways.

"I beg your pardon?" 'Niisama's eyebrow rose again. Mokuba snickered. 'Niisama wasn't very good at playing innocent. Although the original thought had been for the colours, not the cards. The colours weren't just for the classes, it was a handy health gauge for life-points in a duel as well. Blue was healthy, yellow was a warning and red meant you were dangerously low on life points. Or, in the case of the school, in danger of flunking out.

"Never mind." The blond shook his head. "Where's the Yellow's classrooms?"

"Gold." 'Niisama corrected archly, which had probably been the whole point. "They're not complete yet."

"Right over here, Jounouchi!" Mokuba volunteered, bounding off. There was still only so much contact that 'Niisama and Jounouchi could handle before things started getting tense again. And they still had the helicopter ride back home to deal with.

"Perfect." Jounouchi smirked, a look of pure mischief on his face as he followed Mokuba.

Mokuba grinned as well, his bodyguard's enthusiasm infectious. "What are we doing?"

"Being a deviant high school malcontent." He grinned.

"Sweet!" Mokuba bounced. He didn't get a chance to do that very often. "Which room do you want, Jounouchi?"

"Toilets."

"Just past the Egyptian room." Mokuba lead the way.

"Egyptian room?" He echoed.

"Since many of our... past adventures kinda originated from Egypt, 'Niisama thought it was a good idea to teach students exactly where the game came from, to prevent it happening a second time." Mokuba shrugged. He had a bit of an easier time accepting the strange magical occurrences than 'Niisama, but he was still more a child of science then magic. "Toilets?"

"Here we are." Jounouchi spotted the toilets and ducked into the men's room, eyeing the nice clean walls. On the third stall, he crouched down, pulling a pen out of his pocket and began to write.

"Graffiti?" Mokuba's eyes went wide and incredulous. The school wasn't even finished yet, much less had students and Jounouchi was already adding graffiti?

"Every school has it." Jounouchi agreed easily as he stepped back from the wall. "Doesn't seem like one if it doesn't. There. Tell me whatcha think. It ain't no 'They paint these walls to stop my pen, but the outhouse bandit has struck again', but I think it's appropriate."

He didn't have to ask twice, Mokuba crouching down to read it. "Hail to the Sun God, He's a Real Fun God, Ra Ra Ra..."

"'Niisama's probably gonna kill you for that." Mokuba informed him soberly, although he was having a hard time keeping from laughing. "I like it."

"Glad to be of service." Jounouchi snapped a sloppy mock-salute, causing Mokuba to finally break down into giggles. "Now just need to think of rhymes for 'Osiris' and 'Obelisk'..."

* * *

Jounouchi looked around Kaiba Land with a grin, at all the screaming happy kids, the few hassled looking parents, the teenagers trying to pretend that they were too cool for this and failing. The place was packed and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Every so often someone would shout and wave at them, but for the most part they were left alone to wander the park. 

"Pretty cool of you to invite everyone your age or younger to the park for free on your birthday." He commented. Talk about a hell of a way to celebrate your fifteen birthday. He almost wondered how they were going to top it for Mokuba's sixteenth.

"Well, not -all- of them." Mokuba demurred as he looked around with a fond grin. "Just the ones who grabbed free tickets from the game shops around Domino."

Jounouchi cheerfully messed up Mokuba's long hair, causing the dark haired teenager to laugh and dodge his hand. Mokuba attempted to smooth down his waist length hair, which was doing it's usual trick of flying everywhere. It was hard to believe that Mokuba was related to Kaiba sometimes, especially when he looked like a ruffian.

"Still, it's cool of ya to do so." Jounouchi smiled, watching the kids play. As much as he hated to admit it, Ol' Blue Eyes did good work. ... At least with amusement parks. And as an older brother. And maybe as a duellist. But that was about it. Really. "-But aren't you going to lose a lotta money from this?"

"Not in the long run." Mokuba smirked, a very Kaiba-gesture. "And we're not losing much today. People sixteen and over still have to pay to get in, the food's not free, nor are any of the souvenirs or booth games. People will come, ride the new ride, tell their friends and then they'll come back with more people. It's good marketing."

Jounouchi laughed nervously. Every time he though he had them figured out, something like this would happen. He changed the subject.

"Ya still haven't told me what you want for your birthday." He commented, sticking his hands in his pockets. They'd gone on the new roller coaster that opened today first thing in the morning, the first official riders of it. It was fitting, since the new coaster was somewhat named after Mokuba. Or Kaiba, really... seeing as 'Mokuba' meant 'Wooden Horse' and 'Kaiba' was 'Horse of the Ocean', so the horse thing was definitely there. 'Seto' meant 'Turmoil' or 'Chaos', so the new rollercoaster, 'Ranma' --or 'Wild Horse'-- fit into the family quite nicely. Even if it wasn't actually wood.

And was a fun ride, no less. Although Jounouchi could have lived without the splashing through one of the ponds towards the end.

Mokuba looked up at him gravely, none of the humour or cheer Jounouchi was expecting from a teenager on his birthday at the prospect of gifts. "You can not give me gifts as my birthday gift." Mokuba muttered darkly before looking away.

"Huh?" That... wasn't making much sense. For once, Jounouchi had the cash to actually get somebody something for their birthday and they didn't want anything? Although, come to think about it, when he'd picked up Mokuba from school, Mokuba hadn't looked all that happy with the large bag of loot he'd come out with, stuffed full with ribbons and cards.

"I'm a Kaiba." The dark haired boy gave him a weak sardonic smile, before motioning around the park. "There isn't anything I need and anything I could want, I already have. Yet people try to give me gifts... but it's usually a bribe of some sort, they rarely come without strings attached. So other than from 'Niisama, I don't like getting gifts."

That... was really a sad way to look at the world. Sad, but brutally honest. Being filthy rich had it's perks... and it's downsides. Big downsides, as Jounouchi was learning.

Well, tonight they'd have dinner with Kaiba, then the chocolate ice cream cake that Jounouchi knew was in the freezer, waiting for them. And Jounouchi would do his best not to pick a fight with Ol' Blue Eyes. Or maybe he would do his best to pick a fight with Ol' Blue Eyes, depending on which would make Mokuba laugh. Or just because it was fun. Something.

He reached out and ruffled Mokuba's hair again, pulling the slightly smaller teenager just off balance enough for a quick one armed hug before releasing him. "Happy Birthday, kid."

Mokuba smiled at him, it wasn't one of Mokuba's happy gleeful grins, but it was better than the earlier mocking look.

* * *

"Hey." Mokuba looked down at the two stone markers. One was covered with dirt, leaves, and lichen with some of the corners broken off from obvious abuse. The other one was also covered in leaves, but it was in much better condition. It was to this one that he turned his attention to brushing off the leaves that littered it. 

"It's been a year. How have you been doing?" He commented, half expecting a reply as he always did. He didn't get one, of course, just the rustle of the wind through the trees and the soft noises of the small animals that lived in the forest around them.

"Sorry I didn't bring a broom to clean this properly." Mokuba continued. "I didn't want Jounouchi to know where I was going. Maybe next time. You remember him, right? Loud, blond hair? He's my bodyguard now. I lost him a while back in the woods, he's going to be mad at me when we meet up again."

He got the top of the marker cleaned off, then worked on the front. "It's been a pretty quiet year this year, compared to some of the others." He commented, ignoring the dust and mud that covered his hands. "No world shaking events, just lots of smaller ones. Jounouchi's the biggest. And I started High School. It's just as boring as Middle School though. Jounouchi made me a deal back when we started, that I could cut class if I had a good reason. That's how I got here today."

Mokuba hadn't actually expected Jounouchi to follow through on his end of the agreement, but so far the blond had. He hadn't cut school nearly as often as he had before, Jounouchi wouldn't accept 'bored' as an excuse, but the occasional 'sanity break' was okay. Usually Jounouchi dragged him to the park to play old folks games, like Go and Shogi, with crafty, cranky old people. It was actually kinda fun. Although Mokuba refused play Chess with anyone other than 'Niisama.

Today he'd said he'd had a meeting and Jounouchi had agreed. Mokuba was sure that he'd confused Jounouchi when they'd gone far out of town into the forest, then walked for a while. It had taken a little bit longer to lose his guard, but he didn't want anyone else knowing where this was. This was his secret place, and 'Niisama's. No one else's.

He talked as he cleaned, removing as much debris as he could from a year's worth of neglect. It was all the small inconsequential things, not anything he hadn't said in his head a million times, one of a thousand unspoken conversations, but saying it here always made it seem more real. How 'Niisama was doing, the projects they were working on, the changes to the company, technological advances, plans for the next year, his constant hopes and progress.

It was a small comfort. Not much of one, but a small one.

The marker was as clean as it ever was when he finished talking, pouring half of the water bottle he'd brought with him over the top of it. He was silent as he pulled out the handful of incense sticks, placed them in the chipped bowl in front of the marker, and lit them.

He could hear Jounouchi in the distance, shuffling the leaves with unusually loud footsteps. Time to go.

Mokuba clapped his hands twice and murmured a quick prayer, the scent of the incense mixing with the smell of the damp earth he'd just disturbed. He hesitated a moment after he finished, reaching out to trace the words carved into the stone before he turned away to join his probably worried bodyguard.

"I'll see you later." He promised, like he did every year when he came to visit the hidden grave. "Happy Obon, Noa."

* * *

Crap.

Crap crap crap crap with a whole plate of crapolla on the side.

He'd woken up late. The sun was up, lighting Kaiba's room through the closed curtains just enough to see easily.

And here he was, pinned by Mokuba on one side and Kaiba on the other, their body weight pressing against him, holding him down and preventing him from getting the hell out of there.

Trapped. Crap.

He nudged Mokuba with an elbow the best he could. "Wake up, Mokuba." He hissed, deliberately -not- looking at Ol' Blue Eyes at his back. He was dead. D-E-D, dead. "Wake up."

The tangled mass of black hair that was Mokuba stirred and mumbled a bit, then settled back down, one arm flopping over Jounouchi. Dammit. "Wake UP." He nudged the teen again. "Dammit, I -so- don't wanna know what your brother's gonna say when he wakes up and finds me here."

"He's going to say it would be a shame to waste the one morning this month that can be used for sleeping in late arguing." Kaiba's sleep-rough voice rumbled at his back, causing all of his muscles in his body to freeze. Oh... shit.

"Go back to sleep, Mutt." Kaiba ordered drowsily, shifting slightly and somehow managing to press closer. "Mokuba will most likely wake in a few hours and demand to eat sugar laden cereal and watch cartoons in bed."

"Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs." Mokuba murmured sleepily. "And that new duelling anime."

Jounouchi's head hit the pillow. He wasn't dead. He wasn't getting his ass kicked from here to Uranus.

When had he stepped into the Twilight Zone?

"Sleep, Mutt." Kaiba ordered again.

Oh... kay...

Well, sleep was good. He obviously wasn't going anywhere anyway. And if Kaiba wasn't going to beat him bloody for finding him in his bed, he wasn't going to argue.

And when they woke up in the morning, they'd watch Saturday morning cartoons, get hyped up on sugared cereals and Mokuba and him would team up and skunk Kaiba in a pillow fight.

Actually, that sounded like a pretty good start to a weekend to him...

* * *

To Be Continued... 


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **Guard Dog  
**Author: **Icka! M. Chif  
**Date Started:** 8 July 2003  
**Word Count:** 166,662 as of 17 April 2007  
**This Post:** 8,238

* * *

To say that Kaiba Seto was annoyed would be a vast understatement.

He was -livid-.

After taking Kaiba Corporation from Gozaburou and then later wrestling it from the Big Five, Industrial Illusions and Dooma, he had performed many many through background checks, searches and examinations of Kaiba Corporation, it's subsidiary companies and dummy corporations. He thought he had dug up the last of the military related projects and destroyed them all years ago.

But no, like a bad trap card that popped up at the most inconvenient time, another one had been discovered.

It was a good thing that Gozaburou was already dead, twice over, or Kaiba would have gleefully taken care of the bastard. Again.

This one was a Research and Development site, nothing was completely authorised to be produced unless checked with the head of Kaiba Corporation. Research was not due to be completed for several years, meaning he wouldn't have even learned of it's existence until farther down the road. -If the facility hadn't been discovered during an audit of a sub-company far down the subsidiary chain when someone realised that no one in that branch of Kaiba Corporation made small cutesy plush animals.

Animals were about the only thing that the cover did have in common. Mokuba and Jounouchi hung close to him, even as they stood straight and tall in anger and pride. Their eyes both hard and soft in outrage and sympathy as they looked at the creatures in the cages. They had stopped to pet some of the friendlier ones at the front of the building --he'd have to remind the Mutt to wash his hands before they got home, he was quite sure the blond now smelled of the Golden Retriever he'd petted-- but the farther in they got, the more they subtly clung to each other.

Seto had been informed that the company was experimenting with something that had been shelved decades ago by a different company, some sort of mysterious splicer formula called 'MixMaster' in the hopes of recreating it and fixing some of the flaws.

End result: War beasts. Juggernauts. Hideous creatures designed to be released onto the battlefield, sowing terror and destruction wherever they were seen.

That was something Seto was not going to allow to come to fruition. Not after seeing the grotesque results. Some of the resulting mangled creatures were poorly suited for life, such as the frog with wings. Other concoctions were simply terrifying. Nothing should ever be crossed with either a piranha or a badger. The resulting misshapen creatures were ill tempered to say the least.

It made his chest ache and his stomach roll to look upon the creatures. The nightmares his brother and the guard dog were going to have was not something he cared to think too deeply about at the moment.

The labs themselves were sterile and clean, up to date on the safety codes that seemed to be blatantly ignored when it came to the animals themselves.

Seto was not impressed.

"Regular little shop of horrors around here." Jounouchi muttered under his breath to Mokuba. Mokuba gave a soft chuckle, some of the tenseness in his expression fading at the humour, but he continued to press close to their taller forms, recoiling at the horrors.

Their gracious hosts seemed to pick up on their attitudes, scurrying around like mice, soft muttering sounds in the background while they strolled through the rooms. When the cats were away, he supposed.

"What's that thing do?" Mokuba questioned, motioning towards a large complicated device, that looked more like an instrument of torture more than anything else, a large vicious looking nozzle-like contraption on the front.

"Nothing, after we dismantle it." Seto growled.

Mokuba nodded in accord. The puppy didn't say anything, but there was a stubborn set to his jaw that Seto thought was in agreement.

Seto dismissed it from his mind, continuing walking through the laboratories, mentally preparing lists, things that would need to be taken care of to close this facility down. Therefore he was totally unprepared to be abruptly shoved into the wall. "Look out!"

His perception of everything seemed to slow down as the Mutt grabbed his brother, interposing himself between Mokuba and the machine they had just commented on. Clear translucent liquid, tossed from the direction of the machine impacted against the back of the blond's head, a smaller second glob striking Jounouchi in the lower back.

For a second, he thought it was water, or something mixed with water to make it somewhat thicker in consistency. A random attack, nothing to get pushed into a wall over.

Then the Mutt's eyes rolled to the back of his head as the blond pitched backwards, knees obviously collapsing under him. Seto reached out, an arm cradling the back of Jounouchi's head, quickly interposing himself between the blond and the floor. The impact of the dead weight pushed him into a half crouch, still supporting the blond's head and torso.

"JOUNOUCHI!!" Mokuba shrieked, his face white, giving stark contrast to the dark hair and grey eyes wide in horror.

"He's fine." He spared a breath to assure his brother, using his free hand to check Jounouchi's pulse at the neck. The pulse was there, fast, but stable. The Mutt seemed to whimper in response, face pinched in a grimace of pain. Dammit. The machine dripped another glob of goo, dropping to the floor in front of the machine. "Turn that thing off NOW!!" Seto roared. "And get a Medic in here!!"

Mokuba shook off his horror, running to the large machine and tearing what appeared to be the power cords out of the wall, causing the whine of machinery to fade. The shouts and footsteps of people running to see what the commotion was about echoed in the room instead, filling it with general chaos.

Seto's jaw twitched as he glared, stoically ignoring the tingling feeling in his arm where the blond's head rested.

* * *

Jounouchi woke up with his head aching, throbbing to the beat of his heart. His mouth wasn't much better, feeling as if he'd been licking someone's disgusting carpet for the past three hours. Dry, fuzzy and not at all unlike something died there.

Damn. He hated hangovers.

And his ass hurt. This is why he didn't drink, not since that one time with Honda and the spiked fruit punch. For something that -looked- like water, vodka sure did pack a mean punch. Nasty hangover too. He swore he'd learned his lesson that time and hadn't touched anything even resembling alcoholic since then. He sure as hell didn't want to end up like his father, drinking his sorrows away at any opportunity.

Not to mention he really hated the whole 'What the Hell Did I Do Last Night?!' feeling.

With a groan, he opened his eyes, and then pinched them shut as the grey blur drove a spike of pain into his head. With a grimace, he moved a hand to cover his eyes. Or attempted to do so. He couldn't move his arms.

Panic caused him to raise his head and open his eyes despite the jabbing pain in his skull. He was in some sort of hospital bed, straps holding him down, arms tied to the sides.

WHAT THE HELL?!

"Oh, good." As if summoned, Kaiba appeared by the side of his bed, looming over him, his demeanour colder than ice. "You're finally awake."

"Kai..." Jounouchi attempted to growl back, but his throat was too dry to form the word properly. His demand to be released was similarly mangled.

"The restraints are for your own protection." Ol' Blue Eyes was furious, that much was clear. "You were writhing so much they were afraid you were going to hurt yourself. You took out several orderlies before they got you strapped down."

Go him, only he didn't know what the heck would lead him to do something like that.

Kaiba leaned over him, hands pressing against the pillows on either side of Jounouchi's head, arms pinning his head so he couldn't look away from Blue Eye's suddenly looming face. "What the hell did you think you were doing?" The businessman's voice was soft, but cold. Colder than a penguin's belly in Antarctica.

It didn't fool Jounouchi in the slightest. Even with all his mental processors not quite working right, he knew when the elder Kaiba was beyond furious. He just wasn't used to seeing it directed at -him-. Well, anymore.

"Urm..." His mouth moved, but no words formed. He wished he knew. Really he did. Cause right now he got the feeling he was -real- low on the food chain. And he had a very good feeling about which particular Dragon was at the top of the food chain.

"You purposely put yourself in the path of danger." Kaiba growled, his face close enough that Jounouchi could feel the Ol' Blue Eyes's breath on his face. Someone had been drinking coffee lately. At least it wasn't hour old lunch. "If you had not taken the time to push me out of the way, you could have gotten both yourself and Mokuba to safety!"

"Dat's m'JOB!" He snapped back, the words ripping roughly from his throat. They'd had this conversation before. "M'your freakin' Guard Dog, Kaiba! Ya hired me ta guard Mokuba and protectin' Mokuba means watchin' o'er you too!!"

Something flickered in Kaiba's face, he looked almost surprised for a second, pleased, then the scowl returned. "So he -can- talk."

"Shove it, Kaiba." Jounouchi snarled. It was an effort to enunciate his words; it felt like his tongue was too big for his mouth. "I can still take ya down."

He could too. He'd just eat dirt several times in the process.

"Whatever." Ol' Blue Eyes dismissed it. "What is the last thing you remember?"

Jounouchi shrugged, trying to wrestle his wrists out of the bindings that held him down. Man, he hated not being able to move. "Tourin' some freaky house o' horrors wit' you and Mokuba."

Freaky house of horrors... blank in memory... waking up in hospital... tied to the bed... in a definitely non-kinky fashion...

Something was not right in the world of Jounouchi Katsuya.

"Mokuba?" He glanced around, trying to peer around the wall that was Kaiba. "He okay?"

"He's fine." Kaiba deadpanned. "What else do you remember?"

"And nothin'." He glared at Kaiba. "What's goin' on? I feel fine." Okay, maybe not fine, but definitely nothing that would require enforced bed rest. Colours weren't quite as bright, his butt still hurt, the room stank of chemicals and other things he didn't want to think about and Kaiba looked like someone had just done something unmentionable to one of his precious Blue Eyes White Dragon cards.

Kaiba straightened, releasing him from the looming imprisonment, pointedly not answering his question. "The doctors will be with you shortly."

Doctors? "Kaiba-?"

Ol' Blue Eyes stepped back, his face as expressionless as a stone statue. Jounouchi felt his temper melt away as cold fear replaced it, his heart nearly stopping in his chest. Something really bad had happened... Something so bad it had -scared- Kaiba.

Kaiba didn't get scared.

Jounouchi was now officially approaching shit-faced panicked.

"Get some rest and don't worry about anything." Kaiba informed him, -ordered- him. "I'm taking care of everything."

"Kaiba?" There was a bit of a pleading tone in his voice, but he dismissed it as worry.

"And in the future," Kaiba's tone was so cold Jounouchi was vaguely surprised that the air wasn't littered in icicles. "Consider that your orders are to get -yourself- out of the path of danger as well as Mokuba and/or myself." With that lovely parting shot, the businessman turned and walked out of the room without a backwards glance.

"Kaiba!" Jounouchi howled after him. Damn him, leaving before saying anything useful. And he was still tied to the bed.

Which majorly sucked.

And he still didn't know what the hell had happened!!

* * *

Mokuba shifted his weight from foot to foot as he peered inside the open door. Jounouchi lay on the bed, his eyes closed as if he were either asleep or dead. Except he wasn't dead because Mokuba could hear the repetitive beep of the machines that were monitoring the blond's status.

He wasn't afraid to go in exactly, but he kind of was. It was his fault Jounouchi had ended up like this. If he'd been paying more attention instead of acting like a coward, he wouldn't have tripped over the cord and Jounouchi wouldn't have been hit by those flying blobs.

Then Jounouchi shifted slightly, turning his head towards the door. "I can hear someone out dere." The blond called. His voice was rougher than normal and it sounded like he was having some trouble speaking. "If you're not a nurse or a doctor, yer welcome ta come in."

Mokuba swallowed, then stepped in. "Hey, Jounouchi."

"Mokuba!" Jounouchi grinned, shifting to sit up, looking happy to see him. "C'mon in!"

"I... thanks." He shuffled in, looking down at his feet as he approached the bed. "How are you doing?"

"Like I've been felt up by a room fulla hookers." Jounouchi commented. "And none of dem friendly. You?"

"I'm... okay." Been better, been worse. He wasn't the one in the hospital, surrounded by doctors all trying to figure out what happened.

"But none of that stuff got on ya, right?" Jounouchi said, his voice serious and concerned.

Mokuba nodded, his gaze working it's way up from the floor to the railings. There were leather restraints attached, hanging loose. It looked like someone had pulled a number on them. "Yeah. Not so much as a drop."

"Good." Jounouchi breathed a sigh of obvious relief. "Was worried about dat. Yer brother was in here, while back. Shouted lots. Real pissed. Said ya were okay, wasn't sure."

"He wasn't angry at you." Mokuba said, his gaze travelling across the blankets, a sterile looking blue-grey. The fabric outlined Jounouchi's legs, which seemed normal enough through the material. "'Niisama was mad because you scared him and he's not used to that."

"Didn't mean ta." Jounouchi muttered, scratching the back of his head. Mokuba quickly shook his head.

"It's not that. 'Niisama's not used to having people close to him." Because Jounouchi was 'Niisama's friend, whether 'Niisama admitted it or not. And 'Niisama wasn't used to having friends, much less those precious people getting hurt.

The fact that Jounouchi had gotten hurt while protecting both of them... that just twisted the knife a little bit more. The sudden realisation that someone's pain other than either himself or Mokuba's actually mattered scared 'Niisama a lot more than he was ready to admit. He wasn't used to having people close.

It was a positive sign. Sort of.

"This is my fault." Mokuba said softly, his fingers curling into fists, the nails biting into the palms of his hands.

"Naw." Jounouchi waved it off. "Y'just tripped. No biggie."

"No." Mokuba ground out. "It was my fault that you were there at all."

"Y'wouldn't leave yer brother ta go dere alone." Jounouchi protested, sounding slightly puzzled. Where 'Niisama went, Mokuba went. And where Mokuba went, Jounouchi watched over. "No fault dere."

"You don't understand!" Mokuba snapped. "I didn't hire you to protect me! I hired you because... because..." He trailed off, his throat closing over the words.

Jounouchi was quiet, but he could feel the curious confusion radiating from the blond. Mokuba took a breath and started over. "I'm not going to be here all the time. I'm in High School now, in a few years I'm going to be in college, and probably travelling and going abroad. I'm Vice President of Kaiba Corporation, after all." Which meant that he had responsibilities that he needed to take care of. Some of which he didn't have right now because he was still in school, but would take on in a few years.

And as Vice President, it didn't make sense for both of them to always be in the same tower when he could be more useful travelling to their other headquarters.

"But when I'm away, 'Niisama's going to need someone. Someone to make sure he eats and takes breaks. Get him out of the Tower occasionally and remind him he's human. He's going to need a friend." He glanced down at the foot of the bed, afraid to look at Jounouchi's reaction. "Which is why I got you. Yeah, you fight with 'Niisama a lot, but he needs that occasionally. You royally piss him off sometimes, but it's an honest emotion. And you've never backed down from him. So I figured this way you could both get used to each other. Yeah, I can use someone as my private guard, but I can behave and just have the Kaiba Corporation Security."

He didn't -need- Jounouchi as his body guard. It was easier, and turned out to be a lot more fun than he'd anticipated, but he could make do if he needed to.

"So. Um. Anyway." He tugged on a lose strand of hair until it hurt, the twinge of pain helping to keep his mind clear. "If you don't want to work for me... for us anymore, I can totally understand that. False pretences and stuff. We'll make sure that you're comfortably set up; you won't have to see us again if that's what you want. Especially after all this."

Jounouchi was silent for a while, and he could feel the blond's gaze on him. Mokuba tried not to wince. It was probably kind of cruel of him, to hurt Jounouchi like this, and then say 'Oh yeah, by the way, I lied when hired you, I really want you to be my brother's friend, even though you dislike each other's guts passionately'.

Hah. Such a lovely plan. Really. Because of that, Jounouchi had followed him into that place. Then Mokuba had tripped over the cord and Jounouchi had ended up like this.

"Idiots." Jounouchi finally muttered darkly. Mokuba jerked his head up, looking at Jounouchi's knees again.

"Huh?"

"M'surrounded by idiots." Jounouchi said, louder this time. Mokuba blinked and glanced up at Jounouchi's face. The blond was thin, looking both ill and exhausted with shadows under his eyes. However, his brown eyes were still vibrant, full of life. "M'not leavin', not unless ya want me to. M'not the smartest, nor the bravest or the most honourable or whatever else. But m'loyal ta my friends. S'all I've ever had ta offer and damned if m'gonna stop now."

"I... you..." Mokuba trailed off, his gaze dropping down again. "... Thank you." Either Jounouchi really was the world's biggest idiot, or they had really lucked out in the friendship department.

"Welcome." Jounouchi reached out and patted Mokuba's hand. Mokuba swallowed, noticing how Jounouchi's wrist bones stood out against the golden skin. Jounouchi seemed to pick up on his awkwardness and retracted his hand.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Mokuba asked, trying to cover up the unease. "Or I can get you?"

"I could use Yuugi right about now." Jounouchi said, leaning back against the stark white pillows, sounding weary.

"I can call him for you, if you'd like." Mokuba offered. "A driver can pick him up and he can be here in less than an hour."

"Nah." Jounouchi looked at his hand, flexing his long fingers. "Don't wanna scare him just yet. He's just good ta hug, y'know? Everyone here's so..."

Cold. Clinical. Detached. The doctors were still trying to understand what had happened and why, which meant long days of tests for Jounouchi. The goop had created twenty-three other new hybrids, all under the size of a pinkie nail, but only two other than Jounouchi were still living. The rest had died in a manner of minutes or hours.

Mokuba forced himself to look up, to look at what changes he had brought to his bodyguard. The first thing that came to mind was that Jounouchi was so thin. His collarbones poked out of dip of the v-shaped collar of the shirt he was wearing. Jounouchi's face was thin and worn, like he'd noticed earlier, and the angle of the jaw line seemed slightly different.

The ears were the biggest changes. Instead of the pink scalloped shaped ears that he'd had previously, there were triangular fuzzy flaps of skin that hung down on either side of the blond's head, starting just above where the ear canal had been. A layer of blond hair... or fur… was starting to grow in on top of them, but for the moment it was rather obvious and slightly disturbing to look at.

"I've got a tail too." Jounouchi commented, one of the triangular ears twitching in Mokuba's direction. "It looks like a rat's right now, but the docs say the fur'll grow in quick. Look less weird."

"I'm sorry." Mokuba said quietly.

Jounouchi shrugged. "Dat's life. I ain't dead. Dat's a start. I'll survive."

The blond was a survivor. 'Niisama and Mokuba were still debating if it was luck or pure stubborn-minded stupidity. "I know." Mokuba agreed. Jounouchi gave him a small grin in return.

"...I'm not Yuugi." Mokuba offered hesitantly, getting accustomed to Jounouchi's new appearance. "But... if you need..."

Jounouchi looked at him for a minute, and then nodded, holding his hands out. Mokuba leaned forward, awkwardly wrapping his arms around Jounouchi's too skinny torso, hoping he wasn't hurting the blond. When Jounouchi's arms whet around him, holding him tightly, he figured he was doing okay.

"Danks." Jounouchi whispered, his voice low and rough again, like he was having trouble talking again. Mokuba smiled, remembering how Yuugi and Jounouchi seemed to hang off of each other most of the time, thriving off of the casual contact. Being probed like a fascinating new medical specimen was probably wearing the blond out more than anything else.

"Scoot over." Mokuba ordered, pulling back. Jounouchi hesitated for a moment, and then moved over slightly, shifting under the blankets. Mokuba rolled onto the bed, grabbing the television remote and stretching out. It was a bit of a tight fit, the bed really was only designed for one, but they managed. "Catch any good daytime soaps?" He inquired as Jounouchi re-arranged the pillows behind them.

"Yer kiddin' me, right?" Jounouchi gave him a disbelieving look as he slouched down. Mokuba grinned in return, flipping through the channels as Jounouchi practically curled around him. He finally settled on one of the business channels, catching up on the current events around the world. Jounouchi made a few half-hearted growls at some of the news, his body slowly falling lax. A few commercial breaks later, the blond was out cold, snoring softly in his sleep, one arm wrapped around Mokuba.

Mokuba smiled, settling down to watch over his protector.

* * *

Jounouchi looked away from the mirror in disgust. It hadn't changed since the last time he'd looked into it.

He had dog ears.

And a tail. Which is why his butt had been hurting in the hospital. It was a lot more comfortable sleeping on his side or his stomach than his back due to the sudden extension of his tailbone. He looked like one of those creatures from the horror films he hated so much. He was having a hard time looking at himself in the mirror.

Egyptian Gods he could deal with. Virtual Reality that wasn't so Virtual, he could deal with. Real Dragons and Monsters coming to life he could deal with. Himself turning into a monster took a little more work.

He sighed.

Jounouchi hadn't seen Kaiba since the ass-reaming in the hospital, but he'd been assured that he didn't need to worry about the hospital bills --he'd had a private room and doctor-- or about his job. He'd always have a job, or at least a steady paycheque from Kaiba Corporation. Kaiba Corporation looked after their own. Or if he wanted to have some sort of surgery to remove and try to correct the 'damage', it would be covered.

Only the fact remained that his DNA had been permanently altered. He could go back to looking like a human, but he'd never be fully human again. The scientists at the lab they'd been touring, once they'd gotten over the shock, had been quite thrilled, ecstatic even, over how well he survived the process, with most of his mental capabilities in check. Evidently there'd been some worry over his getting hit on the back of the head with the goop if he'd wake up a vegetable.

But the major changes in his head had been a decrease in sight, colours weren't as bright as they had been, things were more grey-tinged, but the increase in hearing and smell made up for that. He'd been informed that those might continue to shift in the future, as his body continued to adjust to the changes.

There was also more of a craving for red meat, but that really didn't bother him. He was usually a bit more of a carnivore anyway.

No, what was bothering him currently was that it had been a week since he had been let out of the hospital and he was still moping over this. He was Jounouchi Katsuya, dammit, and he wasn't a quitter. He didn't hide away in his room like someone who had given up. He hadn't given up in learning Duel Monsters in a week and he'd never given up in a Duel.

Jounouchi Katsuya didn't back down from a challenge.

And that's what this was.

He rose, stretching muscles that were stiff from staying in one position too long and began to hunt for some clothes to wear. Or at least something he could poke a hole into for the tail.

It was time to stop sulking and go out and grab the Dragon by the tail.

...or however that saying went.

* * *

Seto was woken up out of a fairly light sleep by something heavy impacting on his bed, making the mattress jump and shake. "RISE AND SHINE BLUE EYES!!" An ecstatic voice bellowed.

He opened his eyes in time to see a pillow fly towards his head. Without a second thought, he rolled off the bed, rising to meet his attacker. Dammit, how had someone gotten in with out his or the Mu... Jounouchi's knowledge?

Jounouchi was standing on the bed, dressed in sweatpants and a tee-shirt, grinning like a bastard, one hip shot out cockily and a pillow in hand. He knew it, the doctors had lied, the blond was clearly insane. Being altered had obviously fried the last of his few remaining brain cells.

"You've been neglecting your training." Jounouchi sing-sang, waving the pillow lazily. "Which means I've been neglecting my training."

The pillow went flying through the air, towards his face again. Seto dodged, grabbing the flying fabric. He got a twisted grin, almost a snarl --were the blond's teeth sharper? It certainly looked like it-- in return, Jounouchi grabbing a second pillow and wielding it like a weapon. "Let's spar."

With a Kamikaze yell, Jounouchi came flying at him, pillow raised high above his head. Seto dodged to the side, spinning and thwacking the blond with the pillow he was holding.

"Have you lost your mental capacities?" He demanded as Jounouchi landed in a crouch, attempting to turn it into a sweep-kick that got tangled in the blankets that had fallen to the floor when Seto had rolled off. The blond had nearly -died- a few weeks ago, and now this.

"Nah. No more than usual." The cheerful voice was normal sounding, scarily so. "C'mon, what are y'waiting for? You've got the advantage, I'm the one with the weird counterweight on my butt."

That almost made sense. "Very well." He agreed, swinging his own pillow down on the blond's head. Jounouchi laughed, finally freeing his leg from the blankets and rolling away and avoiding the strike.

"About time." The blond grinned, a friendly one this time. He looked good, better than the strange warped skeleton in the hospital bed. Very good. "My balance is shot ta hell. How else am I supposed ta correct it if all ya do is stand there and stare?"

He was not staring. Much. He used the distraction to toss his pillow at Jounouchi and dive across the bed for one of the other ones.

"Oh, yeah!!" Jounouchi cheered, chasing after him. "It's on now!"

* * *

Mokuba staggered down the hall to see what all the commotion was in 'Niisama's bedroom that had woken him up. It sounded like there was some sort of fight going on, with all the shouts, thumps and thwacks echoing from there. Covering a yawn, he opened the door and peeked in.

Jounouchi and 'Niisama were in the middle what appeared to be a pillow fight. If you counted Jounouchi falling on his ass a lot and 'Niisama laughing at him.

He smiled, feeling a lot more energetic suddenly. Oh, good. They'd made up. Or what ever it was with them. It about time things went back to normal.

Jounouchi swung a pillow at 'Niisama's feet, causing 'Niisama to jump and Jounouchi to over extend and fall on his face. "Oi." Mokuba stepped inside. "Need a hand?"

They both threw pillows at him, striking him in the head and chest, blocking his view. They slowly fell down, revealing 'Niisama and Jounouchi's snarky grins. "Okay." Mokuba picked up one of the fallen pillows. "You're -both- dead now."

Jounouchi cackled and threw another pillow at him.

* * *

"Okay, so what we gotta do is figure out how to camouflage your ears and tail." Mokuba said thoughtfully, placing a silk top hat on Jounouchi's head. "-Since you opted not to try for the surgery."

"Yeah." The hat hung crookedly over one eye, so the blond pushed it back on his head with a bit of a glazed look. Hurricane Mokuba was striking again. "They can't move the ear canal back down to a normal human's anyway. Better have them weird and working all instead of strange lumpy bits of flesh that'll make me look even more like a freak."

"Like you were ever normal." Mokuba teased with a grin that Jounouchi returned.

The blond gave Mokuba an affectionate swat, messing up the spiky hair. "Look who's talkin'."

"Heh." The smaller boy smoothed down his long hair, still grinning. "Okay, so I'm thinking hats... They'll cover your head and ears."

"Just not one of those things that Ryuuzaki wears." He shot back. "I'm not havin' anyone compare me ta him, not no way, not no how."

"No problem." Mokuba switched the top hat for a baseball cap and stepped back for a moment. "Uh, no. Definitely not."

"What?"

"Too much hair. Makes you look..." The younger boy waved a hand. "Preppy."

The hat was off Jounouchi's head and tossed across the room before either of them could blink.

"Maybe a cowboy hat." Mokuba mused as if the interlude had never happened. "Could always get a chauffeur's cap."

"Yeah, right. Just gimme one of those, a bunch of leather and a riding crop." Jounouchi snickered. "Not."

The dark-haired boy paused, a contemplative look on his face. Jounouchi blanched. "No. No, no and no. Do NOT be going there, Mokuba." He scolded. "You're -supposed- to be a sweet innocent kid."

Mokuba shrugged, changing the subject as if he didn't feel like disillusioning Jounouchi at this time. "Okay, so the ears are taken care of. Now about that tail..."

"I know, I know." Jounouchi gave him a rueful grin. "No more short jackets anymore." At least not ones that showed off his butt anymore.

"Too bad you're not a girl. We could stick you in a skirt!"

"No."

"Damn."

"I take back every single thing I've ever said about your brother's wardrobe being strange."

"...Spoilsport." Mokuba stuck his tongue out at him. Jounouchi ignored it. Mokuba was the one who was in charge of his brother's eclectic wardrobe. The ones with the flares and the studs and the buckles everywhere. Speaking of which...

"Have you noticed that your brother's been wearing that black arm bracer a lot lately?" Even when they were sparring or sleeping, the elder Kaiba wouldn't uncover his left forearm. It was making Jounouchi curious.

"Hmm." Mokuba agreed helpfully, his head still buried in the closet of clothing.

No help from that quarter then. Back to the original subject. "I'm not borrowin' his clothes either."

"Don't think that'd work well for you..." Mokuba walked around Jounouchi, walking over the bed Jounouchi was sitting on in the process. "You wear a lot of denim, but that doesn't work with the top hat. Maybe a pirate theme?"

"Just so long as it ain't a fancy tux coat or somethin'."

Mokuba's eyes lit up. "Hey, now that's an idea... you need something fancier anyway. We never did get around to shopping."

"No."

"Then we're back to leather."

"Ugh..."

* * *

"Yo, Mokuba!" Jounouchi grinned as he discovered his wayward charge's whereabouts. Mokuba was hiding in the last place Jounouchi had thought to find the sneaky little brat, in Mokuba's bedroom. "Whatcha up to?"

"Hey, Jounouchi." The dark tousled head didn't look away from his computer monitor, nor did the sound of the keyboard stop its momentum. "Programming."

"Yeah?" He leaned over Mokuba's shoulder to see the screen. Not that much of the jumble of lines and numbers made sense to him. "Programming what?"

"Anyone ever tell you that you're a nosy bastard?" The younger boy commented offhandedly.

"Frequently." Jounouchi swatted the backside of Mokuba's head. He was being obstinate. "Now give."

Mokuba shot him a glare before returning his attention to the screen. "I'm bringing Noa back to life."

"That's cool." He responded automatically. Then it hit him. Noa. Freakish virtual green-haired kid who tried to kill them all and take their bodies. Definite grudge against Kaiba Seto. "Wait! Whoa, back up. NOA?!"

"Yup."

"As in 'Tried To Kill Everyone In The Virtual World' Noa'?!"

"Yeah."

He just stared for a moment. "Does your brother know?"

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "Duh. Got his permission to do so a long time ago."

"Oh." He couldn't quite think of anything to say to that. "Um. Good."

Silence descended, except for the tak of keys being pressed as Mokuba coded.

"Mokuba?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask why?"

"Cause he's my brother." Mokuba's answer was level. "He didn't deserve what Gozaburou did to him, isolating him like that. And us Kaiba have to stick together."

"He did try to kill us." Jounouchi had to point out.

"-And saved us in return." The younger Kaiba retorted. The stubborn look faded, replaced by one of mischievous glee. "Just think, though. He'd make a great Game Master for an interactive virtual game."

Mokuba had a point... "Be able to interact with people that way too." Jounouchi mused. That had seemed to be at the root of it, the isolation driving the young virtual kid insane.

"Exactly." The brat sounded way too pleased about the prospect. Jounouchi eyed him warily. He kind of understood where Mokuba was coming from, even as it worried him. Noa had shared Mokuba's body for a while too, if anyone knew what was going on in the green haired kid's brain, it'd be Mokuba.

And the duels had been pretty good too, even if he'd been distracted by worrying about Shizuka at the time.

Speaking of Shizuka, he should e-mail her, let her know he was fine. Same thing with Mai... If he went too long without contacting his 'older sister', she had a nasty habit of showing up to make sure everything was all right. After that bit with the Oricalcous cards and the Dragons, they were all a bit jumpy when someone disappeared off the radar for too long.

At least Mai had taken to his working for Kaiba fairly well, although her comments had been on the... creative side to say the least.

"Aaaah!!" Mokuba's yelp of terror snapped him out of his thoughts. "Tail, Jounouchi!! TAIL!!"

"Wha?" He glanced back, realising that his tail had been waving back and forth, smacking into things and toppling cd cases over. "Eep! Sorry!" He grabbed the wayward tail, wrapping it around one leg, wishing for not the first time that it was a little bit more flexible.

Mokuba was shooting him a dirty look. "You're a hazard to my room."

"Sorry."

The smaller boy just pointed out the door. "Until you learn to control that tail."

Right. Damn thing had a mind of it's own. Not like he could control it. But Mokuba was insanely protective of his computers, so he could understand the restriction. "Later."

"Later." Mokuba's voice was still irritated, but tempered with amusement. They'd probably get a laugh over this later.

In the meantime, he had to go find something else to entertain himself...

* * *

Seto found the blond sitting in the living room, concentrating on the chessboard there. It was an incongruous scene, the bodyguard in a tee-shirt, the habitual scruffy jeans, with tuxedo-like tail coat and a top hat that had made its appearance several days ago perched on his head. The tail was still visible, sticking out of the back of the chair. Every so often, Jounouchi would move a piece, -correctly, Seto noted, then stare at the board some more.

He cleared his throat, bringing Jounouchi's attention towards him. "I didn't know you could play."

To his mild amazement, the tail wagged slightly, as if in greeting. "Just a bit." The blond smiled weakly. Seto wasn't entirely surprised; this was the first time they'd talked since the pillow fight last week, aside from sparring. "Yuugi's 'Jiichan taught me a while back, so we could play something other than Duel Monsters when no one was around. If you're lookin' for Mokuba, he's in his room programming stuff. I'm under strict orders to stay out of there until I learn how to control the tail."

"Ah." That would explain the exile. "Care for a game?" He offered. It had been a while since he'd played. And even then it had been against Mokuba.

Jounouchi shook his head, blond hair flying. "It'd be no contest. You're a World-Class player. I'm just a Beginner." A crooked grin softened the refusal. "But if you want to play something more my speed, like Poker, I wouldn't say no."

"I'd wipe out your paycheque." The comment was more automatic defense than any real insult. It gave him time to think as he took the seat across the board. Poker, game of luck. Matched the other dueller's playing style.

It also triggered a recollection of something... he'd heard of it, just in passing. But it would be interesting to try. "Very well, you're on." His hands moved, automatically straightening the chessboard out, and then putting away the black pieces. He had some time to kill and it would be an interesting experiment. "There should be a deck of playing cards and a rack of poker chips in the cupboard in the entertainment room if you'd be so kind as to fetch them."

The blond gave him a confused look, but quickly rose and retrieved the requested gaming pieces before resuming his seat. "So what are we doing?"

Seto smiled. "Playing to our strengths."

* * *

Mokuba walked in on them a little bit later, Jounouchi with a handful of cards and a pile of chips next to him, 'Niisama contemplating his next move on the chessboard. He watched them silently for a moment, puzzling over their actions before speaking up. "What are you doing?"

Jounouchi grinned at him, tail happily thumping against the chair. "He's playing Chess. I'm playing Poker."

"Oh." The dark haired boy blinked. "Who's winning?"

'Niisama pointed. "Him currently. He just took out my Queen with a Straight Flush."

Jounouchi snorted. "I'd be a lot farther ahead if your bishop hadn't taken out my two pair a couple of turns back."

"Nature of the game." 'Niisama dismissed it, finally moving a Pawn.

Mokuba nodded and decided that was the time to back away slowly. He was beginning to think that bringing the two of them together into the same vicinity had wrought something evil.

On the other hand, it was nice to see 'Niisama relax for a change...

* * *

The chimes above the door rang, echoing throughout the Kame Game Shop. "Yo." A friendly voice called.

"JOUNOUCHI-KUN!" Forgoing the usual greeting, Yuugi launched himself at his blond friend. Once again, he hadn't seen Jounouchi for well over a month and a half, since before Halloween. Although this time the blond had kept in regular contact through e-mail and phone calls. But it wasn't the same as having a living breathing Jounouchi around.

To his surprise however, Jounouchi flinched slightly as Yuugi's arms wrapped around the blond's waist, hesitating a second before returning the hug. Jounouchi had lost weight. Even with the jacket he was wearing, Yuugi's arms could go farther around his friend than usual.

He opened his mouth to question if everything was okay when Honda and Otogi came running out of the back room where they had been drinking tea and talking. The two spiky haired boys tackled Jounouchi, thumping him on the back, stealing the Santa hat he was wearing and patting the top of his shaggy blond head.

Jounouchi laughed, wrestling them back before grabbing the Santa hat back and shoving it on his head. One of Yuugi's eyebrows rose slightly. Jounouchi never wore hats.

"New look?" Otogi chortled; straightening the lapels of the flared dress coat that somewhat went with the floppy red hat. Jounouchi had his usual tee-shirt, jeans and sneakers on underneath, making for a motley outfit.

Yet for someone who worked for Kaiba, it made a certain amount of sense... At least it wasn't leather and buckles.

"Is that a dog collar?" Honda pressed, poking Jounouchi's neck. Yuugi's eyes went wide as he realised that yes, that was a dog collar around his friend's neck. With the Kaiba Corporation logo hanging from it.

Okay, -some- leather and buckles...

"It's a communicator." Jounouchi muttered as he mock-shoved the pointy haired boy off of him as Yuugi's eyebrows continued their upwards rise. Jounouchi had mentioned that he'd gotten a communicator, but he'd neglected to mention what form it was in, just that it had been accompanied by some small teasing on Kaiba's part. "And shaddup, I don't want to hear any jokes about it."

"Probably got enough of them from Kaiba when he wrestled it on you." Otogi leered playfully. "So what is your relationship with him now, Jounouchi? Rumours say you're never seen far away from Kaiba these days. He finally claim you as his pet?"

"Come off it." Jounouchi growled. "I work as a bodyguard for both him and his brother. How am I supposed ta do that if I'm not right there? Which means-" He haughtily tugged on the lapels the jacket. "-I have to dress better than -some- slobs I know."

This earned the laughter Jounouchi had probably been hoping to provoke from Otogi and Honda, but Yuugi frowned thoughtfully. Jounouchi had stated earlier that he was working for -Mokuba-, not Kaiba as well.

Something was not adding up here.

Their louder friends dragged Jounouchi into the back room to catch up, Yuugi trailing behind, watching with thoughtful eyes. Jounouchi was animated, cheerfully talking up a storm and keeping the conversation going. But he hung back a little as well, not jumping into the mock-wrestling matches with his usual abandon. He was also straying away from any friendly contact.

Alarm bells went off in Yuugi's head.

Honda and Otogi didn't seem to notice however, grinning and joking like they always did. Talk shifted around those that weren't present, Anzu who had just gotten a role in "Jewel of the Sage" in New York, not the lead, Black Magician Girl, but she was working on it. Bakura had moved to Egypt with Malik, Rishid and Isis to put his archaeology background to use to protect and record the remains of Malik's home.

Otogi talked about the latest games he was developing, inviting them to help with the beta testing. Honda was debating entering the police academy, see about being a sharp shooter. Jounouchi shared stories about various pranks he and Mokuba had played on the elder Kaiba, such as the incident with the French Maid Uniform.

But he never said anything too close, too personal. Nothing about what was actually going on.

Time passed quickly, too quickly really, and Otogi and Honda excused themselves, joking about how unlike some, they had jobs to do. Yuugi smiled sadly and waved them good-bye.

Jounouchi rose to do the same and Yuugi quickly placed himself between his blond friend and the door. His Other Self had been very good at teaching him intimidation tactics. And if need be, he could swing a mean frying pan.

The blond noticed, giving him a weak half smile. "What's up, Yuugi?" The casual attitude didn't fool him in the least; they'd been friends for way too long for that.

"Jounouchi-kun..."

Jounouchi's face fell as he eased himself back down on to his perch on the arm of a chair, looking like he was bracing himself to get scolded.

"Jounouchi-kun..." Yuugi sighed and started again. "Do I need to make some phone calls to hide the body?"

That got a startled reaction. "Huh? What?"

"Kaiba-kun." Yuugi smiled. "Do I need to make some phone calls to bury his body?"

Jounouchi laughed. It had a harsh sound to it that Yuugi wondered if Jounouchi was aware of, almost like a sob. It faded, replaced by a rueful grin as the blond fiddled with the leather collar around his neck. "No. He hasn't done anything deservin' of that."

"Not even the tail?"

For a moment, he almost wished he had a camera for the expression on Jounouchi's face. Disbelief, shock, horror, amazement. It faded into something tentative as Jounouchi reached up and took off the Santa hat.

At first, it wasn't obvious that anything was different with Jounouchi's hair, other than the fact that it was long enough on the sides to hide his ears. Then his hair appeared to move slightly. With a grateful groan, Jounouchi reached up and ferociously scratched at his head, ruffling the hair up.

Two furry ears perked out from the mess of blond hair. "That's much better." Jounouchi muttered to himself, smoothing his hair back. "They were starting to cramp up from being pressed down so long."

"Oh, Jounouchi-kun..." Yuugi reached forward, tentatively reaching a hand up, his fingertips just brushing floppy triangular shaped ears. They moved, twitching slightly as they rotated from side to side. The flared coat moved, the tail thumping a friendly staccato against the chair. "Why did you hide this from m- us? Is this why you haven't stopped by in a while?"

"Yeah." The ears folded back, like a dog that had been scolded. Yuugi smiled, partly in relief. That was what had worried him the most, Jounouchi was an extremely expressive person and the lack thereof was like suddenly finding the sky was pink with plaid stripes. "Guess I shoulda known better, huh?"

"You could have told me." That hurt, even though he could understand it. A little bit. Like not knowing how to tell your friends that there were two of you inside of you, one who had no problems hurting people to win, or to protect him. "You're my friend, Jounouchi Katsuya. I won't turn you away. I told you. Your problems are my problems."

Jounouchi reached out, pulling him into a hug. Yuugi gratefully returned it, wrapping his arms around Jounouchi's warm bulk, almost completely engulfed by his dearest friend. "I'm sorry." Jounouchi whispered. "I was just..."

Afraid. Terrified. Scared. Worried. About them. About how they would react.

"I know." Yuugi whispered back. He also remembered how it felt when his Other Self had left, like nothing would ever be the same again. It never was the same again, it would never be the same again, but it did get better. Jounouchi had been there for him during that and now it was his turn to return the favour.

Jounouchi released him after a moment, his eyes bright. "Thanks, Yuugi."

"Any time." Yuugi smiled, reaching up to ruffle Jounouchi's hair, like Jounouchi usually did to him.

The blond smiled back, then rubbed his face, removing any traces of weakness. "How could you tell?" Jounouchi asked, his tough bravado returning.

"You kept your back to us." Yuugi explained. "But the tail was visible occasionally from the front. Especially when it wagged."

"Er, yeah." The tail thumped again. "It's kinda got a mind of its own. But it's uncomfortable to strap it to a leg." He turned red at the comment.

Yuugi snickered. "Maybe... if you'd like... we won't tell the others just yet-?" He offered. Jounouchi got teased enough as it was about being Kaiba's Dog, he didn't need their friends' cheerful comments about being Kaiba's DOG.

"Um... yeah." Jounouchi looked grateful, tail thumping against the chair again. He probably wasn't used to his new shape enough to handle that kind of teasing, Yuugi reasoned. "Thanks, Yuugi."

"You're welcome." Yuugi smiled faintly, leaning into Jounouchi's touch as the blond reached for him.

After all, that was what best friends were for.

* * *

To be continued...


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** Guard Dog  
**Author:** Icka! M. Chif  
**Date Started:** 8 July 2003  
**Word Count:** 176,809 as of 29 September 2009  
**This Post:** 7,482

* * *

Sparing matches had changed in light of Jounouchi's... mutations.

For example, holding sparring matches outside while people wandered around and attempt to keep said anatomical anomalies hidden was generally considered Not A Good Idea.

For another thing, the damn top hat wouldn't stay on the blond's head.

So Seto moved the matches from the gardens into the indoor exercise room. He did not care much for the place, preferring the open air of the gardens after having had a few too many up-close and personal encounters with the hard floor and walls of the closed in room when he had learnt the same martial arts he was using to spar with now. Gozaburou had believed in a strong body as well as a strong mind.

He removed the ill-used exercise equipment and padded both the walls and the floor of the now bare room with foam rubber, much to Mokuba's bouncing, crashing delight. It still did not completely suit Seto's tastes, but it was functional. Jounouchi didn't seem to care one way or the other. Of course, if the blond's eyes went open more than half-mast before breakfast, it was a miracle.

That did not mean that he was helpless. Seto figured that if the pup- if Jounouchi could fight while half awake, he could fight just as well when awake.

Jounouchi had improved greatly since they had first started these sparing matches. However, he continued to keep himself a bit too open for Seto's tastes, but that was Jounouchi all around. Too open, too easily hurt.

The blond's back was wide open, so Seto grabbed the golden furry tail during a pass and gave it a tug.

A monstrous growl filled the room, sounding like either one of the Red Eyes or Blue Eyes Dragons had suddenly appeared.

Seto had just enough time to realise that he was probably not far wrong before he found himself struggling to stay upright in the face of a vicious onslaught.

Then he was flat on his back, pinned, looking up into a pair of furious brown eyes, almost reddish, and a set of fangs less than a breath space away from his face.

"I give." He croaked. The growling continued and he realised he was still staring in what could be considered a challenge. He reluctantly averted his eyes, turning his head slightly to the side, leaving his neck vulnerable in a submissive gesture. It was not a sensation he cared much for.

The growling stopped, followed by a faint puff of breath on his bare neck, and then his upper body was released. "Kaiba?" Jounouchi's usual voice asked, clearly bewildered. Seto looked back up to see the blond still straddling his hips, rubbing his lower back where the tail met spine, his face twisted in a pain filled grimace. "Ite, ite ite... my butt hurts..."

"Then don't leave yourself open like that." He growled, propping himself up on his elbows. "And get off of me!" He snapped, trying to hide his embarrassment for having been pinned so quickly.

"Sor-ry." Jounouchi grumbled, clambering off of him, still rubbing his butt. "Dammit, that hurts! What the hell did ya do?!"

"I tugged on it."

Note to self: Do Not Tug On Tail.

"Yeah, well, don't." Jounouchi grumped, and then extended a hand to help him up. The time of Jounouchi being scared of Seto because the blond had won a match were long past. Seto took the offered hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.

This plan ran into a faint problem however when he realised that Jounouchi wasn't releasing his hand. Not that he had any problems with prolonged contact with the blond anymore, but it was unusual. "Jounouchi?"

The blond's gaze was fixated on his arm. His left arm, where the fabric covering his forearm had slipped, revealing a sliver of blue-silver skin.

"I thought there was something off about this." Jounouchi commented mildly as he pushed the fabric back, exposing more of the metallic skin which glimmered in the artificial light. "It's from when I got hit with that muck, isn't it? Mokuba said ya caught me."

"Yes." He agreed. Jounouchi didn't appear to be satisfied by just looking as his warm fingers slid from the soft skin of Seto's hand to the thicker, cooler skin on his arm, the same colour and texture of a Blue Eyes White Dragon. It was like armour, Seto had once broken a paper cutter on the silver skin in a fit of anger and curiosity. The skin, if he could call it that, had remained undamaged.

He'd kept it covered not so much to hide it from the eyes of other people, but from himself. He didn't need to keep looking at it to know it was there.

Jounouchi's eyes softened and Seto snatched his arm out of the bodyguard's grasp. "Do not apologise for it." He snapped, pulling the cover back down. Fucking pity. He hated pity. "It is not your fault."

Same as Jounouchi's transfiguration. It wasn't anyone's fault. Either that or it was both their faults; his arm retribution for being unable to prevent Jounouchi's transformation.

Jounouchi appeared to think about it. "Does it hurt?" He finally asked.

"No." Bit of the opposite really. It was a bit like having a permanent armour bracer on his arm, but it certainly did not -hurt-.

"Good." The blond casually moved back into a fighting stance, a challenge gleaming in his eyes. "So we sparrin' or not?"

* * *

Mokuba groaned, checking his watch again. 'Niisama was late. Again. Probably was holed up behind his desk, working on some last minute detail thing that 'couldn't wait'.

Jounouchi made a disgruntled noise in his throat as well. The blond hated waiting, sitting around doing nothing as much as Mokuba did.

"Jounouchi!" Mokuba pointed up at the top of the snow covered Kaiba Corporation building, towards his brother's office. "Fetch 'Niisama!"

He meant it as a bit of a joke, something to relieve the boredom until 'Niisama came down. He was -not- expecting Jounouchi to look at him like he had just been handed the Holy Grail, grin, then rapidly scoot out of the warm car and dash towards the building, ignoring the snow and ice as if it wasn't there. "Jounouchi!" Mokuba leaned out of the still open car door, as Jounouchi disappeared inside the doors. "It was a joke! A JOKE!"

Too late, the blond was far out of hearing range. "Ooh..." He wilted, sitting back down in the seat. Teach him to say things on impulse.

A minute later, Jounouchi came back out of the building, dragging 'Niisama who was clearly struggling and arguing with the obstinate bodyguard. There was a huge grin on Jounouchi's face, as if he'd suddenly discovered his new meaning in life. A few security officers trailed after them, clearly uncertain as to what to do about their boss being kidnapped by his own bodyguard.

"Fetch!" Jounouchi cheered, tossing 'Niisama in the car before climbing in as well, closing the door behind him.

"Good boy!" Mokuba quickly pressed the 'lock' button and hit the intercom, ordering the driver to go Go GO! The car took off with a squeal of tires that knocked them all out of their seats.

'Niisama glared at both of them as he straightened his clothing, gathering his sense of dignity around him as he silently promised that he WOULD remember this. Jounouchi was unfazed as he continued to grin hyperactively, bouncing slightly in his seat, his tail swinging in happy circles.

"Well," Mokuba shrugged gamely at 'Niisama, motioning towards his happy doggish bodyguard. "He -is- part Retriever, after all."

hr

"Yo, Yuugi!" The cheerful ringing of the shop's bell accompanied Jounouchi's gleeful yell, forestalling the usual welcoming shout. Yuugi poked his head out of the backroom with a grin as he spotted his blond friend brushing some snow off his long black coat.

"Jounouchi-kun!" Yuugi paused as he saw what the blond was carrying. "You've got a very big package."

"Thanks, Yuugi." Jounouchi drawled back with a broad grin and a saucy wink. Yuugi fought a blush as he smiled back. "Hold the door, wouldja?" Jounouchi requested, motioning to the storeroom door with a jerk of his head as he waved to 'Jiichan. 'Jiichan shook his head at the blond's antics, going back to his newspaper as Jounouchi made his way into the backroom, Yuugi holding the door open for him.

"What's this for?" Yuugi questioned, poking the ribbon that was wrapped around the brightly wrapped box as Jounouchi passed by. More appropriately, -who- was it for? It wasn't his birthday.

"Merry Christmas!" Jounouchi declared, setting the box down on a mostly cleared table. Yuugi blinked, running the dates through his head and realised that Jounouchi was correct... it was Christmas Eve. Okachan had picked up the Christmas Cake earlier that day after 'Jiichan had scolded her for not having picked it up already.

He'd forgotten what day it was in the Christmas and New Year's rush to buy gifts and games for the respective holidays. And it wasn't like Christmas Eve was a holiday he looked forward to anyway, he didn't have a date to parade around the streets with to be all lovey with.

"Open it!" Jounouchi cheered, nudging the box closer to him with childish enthusiasm.

"Jounouchi-kun..." Yuugi eyed the box with a touch of trepidation. "You're not going to tell me that it's from Santa, are you?" He asked suspiciously.

"Of course not." The blond made a mock-serious face at him as his coat swished back and forth from the force of the wagging tail. "Children who don't believe in Santa don't get presents from him. This one's from me!"

Yuugi raised an eyebrow at his best friend, and then stepped forward, hesitantly touching the box. He did want to know what was inside of it... With a small grin, he slowly started unwrapping the present, carefully undoing all the tape and un-creasing the folds, like he was uncovering a rare artefact.

"Yuu~gi!!!" Jounouchi practically danced at him and Yuugi finally gave in to his more immature urges and ripped off the paper, tossing handfuls up into the air in a frenzied multi-coloured cloud of paper scraps. Jounouchi whooped and cheered him on as he did so, grabbing handfuls of the falling paper out of mid-air and tossing into the air again.

"You're helping me pick those up later." Yuugi informed Jounouchi, who gave him a gleefully unrepentant look back. He paused as got to the white box, partly to savour the anticipation of the unknown, partly to draw out the suspense and annoy Jounouchi. Then Yuugi screwed his courage up and pulled off the white lid of the box.

Inside, wrapped in tissue, was a coat. It was completely black, with large cord and leather fasteners and shiny polished wood toggles. "Put it on!" Jounouchi demanded, as Yuugi pulled it out of the box, the fabric unfurling almost to the ground. "I want to make sure it fits!"

Yuugi nodded, petting the fabric for a moment and admiring the softness of it before letting Jounouchi assist him into the coat. "It's wool." Jounouchi explained as he settled the coat around Yuugi's shoulders, the hem stopping just below Yuugi's knees. "I wanted something durable that would be warm and comfortable to wear."

Yuugi caught the note of concern in Jounouchi's voice as the blond fiddled with the hood of the jacket until it lay straight. It wasn't Yuugi's height that worried Jounouchi, but how easily Yuugi tended to get cold in the winter time. He just couldn't seem to keep any fat on his body, which meant he froze in even the milder temperatures. He didn't usually go out in the wintertime because of this, although he did enjoy the occasional snowball fight.

"I can't accept this, Jounouchi-kun." Yuugi said quietly, touching the wood toggles up near his throat. This was obviously not a off the peg store bought coat. Or at least not from any store Yuugi could have even dreamt of affording. "This must have cost a fortune."

"You can and you will." Jounouchi said stubbornly back at him. "What good is getting a stable paycheque if I can't use it on my friends? Besides, I'm not here to keep you warm at night anymore."

Yuugi blushed. When Jounouchi had been living with them, they used to share the bed in the winter. Jounouchi made an excellent space heater. "Yes, but..." He looked down. "This must have set you back a lot..."

To his surprise, Jounouchi laughed and patted Yuugi's head. "Don't worry about that! Trust me, this didn't set me back at all."

"Huh?"

Jounouchi shrugged. "Kaiba pays well." He said simply. "I'll give Ol' Blue Eyes that much."

Yuugi fiddled with the jacket cuff. Come to think about it, he didn't know how much Kaiba paid Jounouchi.

"Oh, that reminds me." Jounouchi reached into his own long flared coat, and pulled out a pair of dark blue smooth leather gloves. "This is from Mokuba. He says to say that it's from both him and his brother, and Kaiba didn't argue, so smile and nod, okay?"

"Okay-?" Yuugi ventured as Jounouchi handed him the gloves. Yuugi felt the smooth soft material for a moment before pulling them on. To his surprise, they fit well. Usually gloves were too large in the fingers, the extra material flopping all over the place.

"Kaiba uses this style as well. They're warm, and the leather has enough grip to hold the cards in a duel, so your hands don't freeze if you're duelling in the cold." Jounouchi gave him a slightly crooked grin. With their life, they had to consider that when buying clothing because chances were that they -would- end up duelling in the blistering snow.

Then Jounouchi pulled out a long swath of dark midnight blue fabric and draped around Yuugi's neck with a more mischievous grin. It was soft and fuzzy, made out of some sort of fine hair or fur. "And one last thing..." A pair of ear-muffs were pulled out of a pocket and plopped on Yuugi's head, his long spiky hair practically swallowing the band.

"Jounouchi-kun..." Yuugi stared at himself in amazement. He couldn't accept this!

"Don't argue." Jounouchi scolded, waving his own scarf, dark red, the colour of blood, or the eyes of the Red Eyes Black Dragon, at him. "Mokuba gave all of us a set. Kaiba's is white and Mokuba got eye-gouging orange for himself. And he was glad for the excuse. The kid's got an obsession with dressing people or something."

"I'll have to think of something appropriate to thank him with." Yuugi murmured instead. Jounouchi gave him a broad grin, patting his head.

"Good. And now that you're dressed for it, you can help me get the rest of the stuff off the motorcycle."

"The REST?!" Yuugi squeaked.

Jounouchi laughed as he steered Yuugi out to the front of the store. "It's my New Year's gifts to your family. Nothing as extravagant, I promise."

"Good." Yuugi squared his jaw as they walked back out, ignoring 'Jiichan's amused looks. "Spend your paycheque on yourself too!"

"Oh, trust me." Jounouchi's voice took on a pleased smug rumble that made Yuugi do a double take. "I am."

Okay... That was good. Right? He shouldn't worry about what kind of trouble Jounouchi was getting himself into... Right?

Right…

He pulled the jacket closer around him as they stepped outside, Yuugi's boots sinking into the snow. Jounouchi didn't seem to notice as he wandered over to a large sleek dark blue motorcycle parked on the side. Yuugi might have wondered why Jounouchi wasn't worried about it being stolen except for the prominent 'KC' logo on the side. Kaiba's name went far in Domino City.

"The company car!" Jounouchi declared gleefully, opening up one of the saddlebags on the back and pulling out a brown paper shopping bag. One thing Kaiba and Jounouchi definitely had in common, the love of going fast. "Here ya go."

Yuugi glanced into the bag, to find his curiosity thwarted by the presence of more brightly coloured paper. Dangit, he'd have to wait until the New Years before finding out what was in there. Jounouchi laughed as he pulled a second bag out of the other saddlebag. "Sweaters for your Mom and 'Jiichan, warm socks for you."

"I think I love you." Yuugi breathed. One never had enough warm socks. They always either got lost in the wash or wore out. Although sometimes he suspected that most of the ones that went missing were because 'Jiichan stole them.

And he was noticing a definite trend in the gifts. Jounouchi may not have been around as much as he had been in the past, but he was still making sure that he had Yuugi's back safe and protected. Even if it was just from the elements.

Jounouchi just grinned at him, stomping through the snow back to the shop. Yuugi followed, a grin on his own face. Jounouchi held the door open for him as they stepped inside the warmth of the shop, the bell ringing as they stomped the snow off their boots.

"Ahem." 'Jiichan cleared his throat pointedly as they paused in the doorway, giving them a significant look then glancing up.

"'Jiichan!" Yuugi gasped as he realised that his grandfather had hung a sprig of holly and mistletoe over the doorway.

'Jiichan just smiled and shrugged, his expression too innocent for the lecherous old man. "Never know when you're going to get lucky."

Jounouchi laughed. "Unfortunately for Yuugi, I'm not a pretty girl." He said with a smile, before leaning over and sweeping Yuugi up a giant bear hug, his feet swinging off the ground. Yuugi giggled as he attempted to hug his best friend back and found himself blocked by tangled of coats, limbs and bags.

Then he was released, Jounouchi steadying him as Yuugi found his balance again. "I've gotta head back to work." Jounouchi announced, handing Yuugi the bags he was carrying. "Call me about what you're doing on New Years! Later!" And with another jingle of the bell on the door, Jounouchi was gone.

"See?" 'Jiichan said smugly as Yuugi stared at the bags in a sort of dazed shock. "You never know when you're going to get lucky."

Yuugi shrugged back, shifting the bags around. Depending on your definition of 'lucky'.

Hugs were nice, but really, he really kind of wouldn't minded that kiss instead...

* * *

Mokuba had been worried about Jounouchi. He'd known that the blond had been avoiding his friends since the lab incident and had been overjoyed to hear that he'd cleared the air with Yuugi.

This meant that since the New Year, the spiky-haired duellist had started coming over for what Mokuba was calling their 'Monthly Movie Night'. The three of them staying up late, eating junk food and watching movies.

It was actually turning closer to a Weekly or Bi-Weekly Movie Night, but since 'Niisama apparently hadn't caught on to that fact, they weren't going to point it out to him.

He and Yuugi were currently the only ones awake, Jounouchi had fallen asleep on the futons in front of the sofa, snoring softly. The blond's shirt had ridden up, showing his belly. Yuugi tsk'd, reaching for a blanket to cover his friend.

Mokuba had a different idea. "Wanna see a trick?"

"Trick?" Yuugi's eyebrows raised.

Mokuba giggled, sliding off the couch and lightly scratched the blond's bare belly.

"Mokuba!!" Yuugi scolded. "Jounouchi-kun is our friend! We shouldn't treat him like a..." The words trailed off as Jounouchi's leg twitched, and then began to move in time to the belly rub. "Can I try?"

"Yup!" He traded places, giggling as Yuugi tried to see how fast he could make Jounouchi's leg move. Yeah, it was probably mean to treat Jounouchi kind of like a dog sometimes, but on the other hand, Jounouchi almost seemed to invite it, if nothing else than as bravado to hide his own nervousness about his abnormality.

And it really was fun.

Yuugi eventually realised that he was rubbing his best friend's belly and stopped, blushing slightly as he guiltily pulled down Jounouchi's shirt and covered him with a blanket. Mokuba giggled.

"We should probably get some sleep tonight too." Yuugi added ruefully, hiding a yawn of his own. Mokuba almost rolled his eyes. It was like being surrounded by a pack of older brothers, really it was.

"Alright." He agreed, turning off the television and sliding off the couch. Yuugi handed him a share of pillows and blankets before stretching out on the futons along side his larger friend. Mokuba grinned sleepily, arranging the bedding until he was comfortable.

"Hey, Yuugi?" He asked sleepily.

"Yeah?"

"Want to see another trick?"

"Hmm?"

"Jounouchi." Mokuba grinned. "Fetch 'Niisama."

"Fetch!" In a blur of blond hair and pyjamas, Jounouchi was gone, dashing down the hall.

Yuugi pulled Jounouchi's blanket off of his head, where it had fallen when Jounouchi had suddenly gotten up. "What was that?"

"Jounouchi's got a hidden ability." Mokuba explained.

"Sudden speed ability?" Yuugi mused, putting the blanket back where Jounouchi had been sleeping. "No... he's always been like that around food..."

"Ack! Er, STUPID MU- JOUNOUCHI!!!" 'Niisama's shouts echoed through the corridors. Yuugi sat up straighter, eyes going wide. Mokuba smugly nestled into the blankets, secure in the knowledge that they wouldn't step on him.

Jounouchi didn't at least. Even mostly asleep, he carefully stepped over Mokuba. 'Niisama wasn't quite as quick on the uptake, being too busy trying to free his arm from Jounouchi's grasp and tripped over him, falling on to the futons.

After the first 'Fetch' incident, they'd done some checking on what was going on in the blond's skull. Evidently, 'Fetching' released endorphins in Jounouchi's brain, like eating a really orgasmic piece of chocolate on a bad day would. Jounouchi just thought it was fun.

'Niisama used Jounouchi to Fetch him on occasion too, so it balanced out. Although Jounouchi was usually faintly embarrassed when he realised that he'd just grabbed one of the brothers and run off.

"So glad you could join us." Mokuba yawned, flipping a blanket over his irritated older brother. Yuugi looked on with wide round eyes, but wisely didn't say a word.

"Mokuba!" 'Niisama growled. Jounouchi turned around in a small circle a few times, then plopped down where he had been sleeping, pulling a blanket over himself with a contented sigh. This just coincidentally happened to be on top of some of 'Niisama's limbs, conveniently trapping the elder Kaiba.

"G'night 'Niisama!" Mokuba smiled sweetly, passing his brother a pillow. "Sleep well."

Jounouchi's snoring answered him. After a moment, his brother snatched the pillow away and made himself as comfortable as possible while being partly used as a mattress.

"Pleasant dreams." Yuugi commented, smiling quickly before hiding behind Jounouchi's slumbering form.

"Not one word, Mutou." 'Niisama growled out. "Not one word to ANYONE."

Yuugi giggled in return.

* * *

Seto glanced up as the door to his office opened, then quickly slam shut. "What?"

His chair, with him in it, quickly spun in a circle, then stopped, right where it had been, as if he hadn't been disturbed at all. "Eh?" Confusion reigned with irritation, he had work to do.

He glanced down to find a pair of rich brown eyes looking at him pleadingly from a shock of golden hair. Right Between His Legs. "Huh?!"

"I'm not here!" Jounouchi hissed. "What ever happens, I'm NOT here!"

"Jounouchi...." Seto raised an eyebrow. "-What- are you doing under my desk?" Between his legs, no less. He really should spend more time out of the office if this was where his brain was starting to go.

"Hiding from Mokuba." The top hat had been knocked off and Jounouchi's ears were laying flat against his head in a terrified posture. "Love your little brother like he were my own little brother, really I do Kaiba, and if anythin' happens, I will personally roll up the newspaper for ya ta beat me around the head and the shoulders with, but if he asks, I'm. Not. Here."

The door opened again, his brother poking his shaggy dark head in. "Hey, 'Niisama!"

"Hello, Mokuba." His brother beamed at him and Seto detected a hyper-active gleam in Mokuba's eyes. "What can I do for you?"

"Have you seen Jounouchi-kun around?" Mokuba asked, scanning the room.

"I do not see him here." Seto commented evenly, pointedly ignoring Jounouchi's pleading gaze from under the desk. "Do you?"

"Hmm... nope." Mokuba agreed, vibrating slightly.

"Mokuba... do I need to remind you of your promise?" He took off his computer glasses as he tried to adopt his most severe tone, which wasn't easy considering he had Jounouchi's warm presence pressed up against his legs as a very convincing distraction.

Mokuba looked guilty. "Promise?"

"Not to run Jounouchi off?" He tapped a pen against the desk. "Or do we need to find a replacement for your guard dog and reassign you back to the security officers?"

"No! No!!" That brought a panicked expression to his brother's face as Mokuba held his hands and shook his head vigorously. "I'm sure he's around here somewhere, I must have just turned a corner and accidentally lost him. I'm... just gonna go look for him now. Catch ya later, 'Niisama! Bye!"

In a blur of motion, Mokuba was back out the door and gone from the office.

"Whew." Jounouchi let out a deep sigh, his head drooping, hair brushing against Seto's inner thigh. Seto had to grit his teeth to keep from embarrassing himself right there.

He wasn't sure if he should curse or bless the fact he was wearing tight leather pants. Just how good was Jounouchi's sense of smell, anyway? They had never tested that, had they? And the olfactory systems were directly linked to the auditory systems via the sinuses, if Jounouchi's hearing had improved due to the accident, what were the chances that his sense of smell had? Could he smell Seto's arousal? From the blond's location, it would be rather hard to miss...

"Thanks, Kaiba." Jounouchi shifted, his head resting against Seto's leg as the rest of him shifted away. "Gimme half an hour and I'll be outta your hair."

How about a half hour to put his mouth to better use? All he had to do was pull that mop of golden hair closer and...

"What exactly happened?" He asked briskly.

"Someone gave Mokuba a large bag of chocolate covered espresso beans." Jounouchi yawned, sending another puff of warm air against Seto's inner thigh. Seto twitched. "Think it was one of his former baby-sitters, he was talking to a few Security guys before he got the Pixi Stix. Or was that after? Eh. Been chasin' him ever since."

"And how long ago was that?" Seto asked as the blond's head drooped tiredly.

"Hour and..." Jounouchi grabbed Seto's wrist, twisting it towards him and for a moment he wondered if the blond had heard his thoughts. Instead, Jounouchi peered at it blearily before realising that Seto didn't wear a watch. "... I dunno. While ago."

"Ah." Dammit, dammit, dammit.

Jounouchi released his arm, falling backwards and disappearing into the depths under the desk. Seto wasn't sure to bless what ever deities were out there or curse them. "S'big down here. Wake me in a half hour to Fetch Mokuba?" Came the muffled question.

Seto pushed the chair back, leaning down to watch Jounouchi curl up under the desk, almost in a fetal position, arms tucked under his head. A sleepy brown eye glanced up at him. "m'I in yer way?"

"No. You're fine." He reassured the blond. Jounouchi nodded once, then apparently fell fast asleep. Seto watched him for a moment, and then sat up, moving his chair back to its usual place. He refrained from stretching out his legs however, letting the mutt sleep.

It was funny, he hadn't realised that someone could easily fit under his desk before and not be noticed. That opened up a whole realm of possibly he'd never thought of before...

He stopped that line of thought. Employee. Jounouchi was an employee. Therefore Off Limits. Not to mention the fact that the blond was -male-, and -Jounouchi-, the mediocre duellist whom he'd been fighting with for years. Which brought up all sorts of questions about Seto's sanity, never mind the idea that he found the blond attractive at all.

He hit the intercom button for his secretary. "Send a memo to Security, please." He paused a moment, giving her a chance to switch to what ever programs she needed. He'd heard some faint grumblings about Jounouchi taking over Mokuba's protection, a few people were crying favouritism because the blond had known Seto in school, thus allowing him to 'waltz in' and take over that position.

Regardless of the fact that Jounouchi had to train before taking the position and had a better temperament for dealing with Mokuba than the griping idiots there. Which was why Jounouchi had gotten the job in the first place.

And Jounouchi worked hard at what he did. It was also difficult to picture anyone else curled up under Seto's desk fast asleep from chasing after his sugar-hyped brother, snoring slightly and trusting Seto to let him sleep.

"Ready, sir." The secretary chirped at him.

"Anyone caught giving Mokuba any caffeinated or highly sugared foods will be assigned the task of watching over him until the buzz wears off. That will be all."

"Very good, sir."

* * *

"Yosh!" Mokuba cheered, sliding out of his computer chair with a stretch. "C'mon, Jounouchi-kun!"

"Huh?" Jounouchi stretched as well, popping the kinks out of his back from being curled up in one position for so long. His tail made an audible pop as he moved, slightly stiff from being curled around him for so long. He'd just now gotten permission to hang out in Mokuba's lab at the Kaiba Corporation Tower while the kid was working, now that he had some control over the tail.

"You'll see." Mokuba grinned mischievously, hanging on the door playfully. Jounouchi grinned back, gamely following him. What a way to spend Valentine's Day. Ah, well. It wasn't like he had a girlfriend to give him chocolates and spend the day with. Although maybe he should give Yuugi a call, see how he was doing.

Mokuba led him out of the labs, and then got into the elevator, humming happily to himself. Instead of heading up, towards the older Kaiba's offices, Mokuba pulled a plastic card out of the locket around his neck. He tapped a panel on the elevator wall that Jounouchi hadn't noticed before, inserted the disk and tapped a few buttons.

The elevator made a whirring sound as it started going -sideways-.

"Mokuba?" Jounouchi questioned, slightly nervous at the sudden change in the formerly normal elevator. Mokuba stopped humming long enough to give him a smile, then returned back to his humming.

Right. No help there. Jounouchi sighed and decided just to go along for the ride. Mokuba was a Kaiba after all, Jounouchi would find out when Mokuba damn well felt ready and not a moment sooner. The elevator decided to change directions and started moving downwards. Or at least Jounouchi was pretty sure it was downwards, it was kind of hard to tell when one was stuck in a metal box whooshing off to who knew where.

The elevator eventually stopped, the doors opening into a dimly lit lab, one that Jounouchi hadn't seen before. It smelled fairly sterile, dust free but with the overlaid scent of electronics.

Mokuba walked into the room, still humming fearlessly, trusting Jounouchi to follow. He did so, ears twitching under the top hat, leery of surprises.

There were shadowy columns coming up from the floor at even, measured places. Hundreds perhaps. Mokuba lead him between the columns, towards the back, stopping in front of one. "Activate." He said out loud to the air. "Authorisation: Kaiba, Mokuba. 'She sells sea shells by the sea shore'."

Machinery started up, whirring and clacking all around them. The columns started to glow with an eerie pale blue-green luminescence, shadows of figures inside.

Monsters. They were surrounded by hundreds of monsters, each one encased inside of a glowing column. "Mokuba?" Jounouchi asked, feeling decidedly twitchy and uncomfortable about this whole place. He recognised it now, he'd been down here before, a long time ago, with Honda during a series of duels to stop the RA Project and save Anzu.

There had been creepy people jumping out the columns at the time too.

"Solid Vision." Mokuba said calmly. "This is where all the monsters are created and tested before they can appear on the Duelling Platforms."

"Yeah, but-" He froze when he realised what, or who Mokuba was standing in front of.

Noa.

Mokuba was noticeably bigger than Gozaburou's son now, even though Noa was half-curled up inside a glowing column. The green-haired boy smiled, reaching a hand out towards Mokuba. Mokuba smiled in return, their palms not quite reaching each other because of the barrier of light.

"Hey." Mokuba commented, leaning his forehead against the pillar. "Long time no see."

Noa laughed silently, mouthing something in return. The columns made the images inside appear solid, but they didn't supply sound. Mokuba laughed softly.

Mokuba had been working on this for months and finally, his hard work had paid off and he was able to see his other brother again. Jounouchi smiled sadly, turning away to give them privacy.

After his original freak out and banishment from Mokuba's room, he'd gotten some more details on what Mokuba was doing. The base where Noa had been originally stored had been destroyed, by Noa himself. But Gozaburou had a continuous back-up feed to a satellite so in case something happened to the main base there would be a copy of his son somewhere. Or most likely, a copy of himself.

The back-up feed had been damaged in the explosion, and that was what Mokuba had been repairing, deleting and removing all traces of Gozaburou as he did so.

This was the first time the code had been repaired enough for them to meet again, in a way.

Some of the other columns towards the back caught his attention, the figures inside were shaped differently than the rest. Curious he walked closer, examining them.

They were human, not Duel Monsters. There was Mai, Haga, Ryuuzaki and a bunch of other Duellists. Towards the back he spotted Anzu, Otogi, Honda, Kaiba, Mokuba and... himself.

He stopped in front of his friends in the columns, realising that they were images of his friends... what they looked like several years back.

What they had looked like during Duellist Kingdom, when he had first begun learning how to duel. When they had first met the other side of Yuugi.

Where everything had all began, really.

"'Niisama recorded everything he could during all the Tournaments." Mokuba commented quietly. "So that later, there would be an accurate copy of events. There's talk of maybe turning it into a Television show. This way there won't be any disputes about people not looking like they should."

"Ah." Kind of like photographs to remind you, only three dimensional. And possibly solid. He glanced back to see Noa smile and wave at him. He grinned and waved back. Mokuba smiled sadly as well as Noa faded from view, looking like he was heading for a nap.

"He's not completely there yet." Mokuba commented.

"He will be." Jounouchi reassured him, resting a hand on Mokuba's shoulder. "You'll see to that."

He got a bittersweet smile in return. "Yeah."

Jounouchi cleared his throat, looking for a distraction. "So, about these Solid Vision..." He spotted himself, wearing that ancient green coat of his, the old familiar dog tags around his neck.

And wearing what was obviously a head band with dog ears on it.

Mokuba's eyes went wide. "It's not what you think! It's not what you think! 'Niisama did these before everything happened and-"

He chuckled, patting Mokuba's head to let him know there were no hard feelings. "So Ol' Blue Eyes has a sense of humour after all."

"Occasionally." Mokuba agreed. "I'm sorry, I'd forgotten he did that, I'll get it changed."

"Relax, it's not a big deal." He and Kaiba had been insulting each other for years, that wasn't going to completely change because of recent circumstances. Besides, it was fun taunting the Dragon.

He spotted Kaiba's column, with Mokuba's next to it. Just beyond that, he saw... Two Yuugi?

Jounouchi walked closer, verifying that in fact, yes, there were two Yuugi, standing next to each other. Yuugi and his Other Self. Atemu, he corrected. But the Pharaoh had been Yuugi's 'Other Self' for so long, it was still hard to think of him as 'Atemu'. "So Kaiba finally believed it, huh?"

"Yeah." Mokuba nodded. "It got through his thick skull eventually. He still doesn't like the whole Ancient Egypt Sorcery and Mysticism stuff, but he does acknowledge it."

"Good." Jounouchi patted the smooth column holding the image of the sleeping Pharaoh, dressed in leather and chains. It kind of hurt, in an odd sort of way, to see Yuugi's Other Self standing here like this. He wanted to say 'Hi', mess up his hair, talk with him like they used to. But this wasn't the real Pharaoh. The real one had already passed on, leaving a hole in their lives.

Atemu's leaving had really been the sign of the end. Everyone was still friends, but they weren't friends like they had been before. The group's cohesion, former closeness, was gone with their leader missing. "Hey, Mokuba?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't show this to Yuugi, okay?" To see his Other Self, moving and walking around but clearly not him, it would just be rubbing salt into the still healing injury.

Mokuba looked at him with eyes that were far too wise and sad for a kid. "... Yeah."

* * *

Jounouchi snickered to himself, eating an ice cream cone. This was a great idea Yuugi had. Simple and he didn't have to worry about sweating like a dog in the humid spring heat. Summer in the top hat and big coats was not something he had been looking forward to, that clothing was -hot-.

Which meant he could pick Mokuba up at the curb, instead of waiting at the car, like he'd been having to do. Double score. Good day all around.

Except for that giant Blue Eyes White Dragon suddenly appearing over the school yard.

... shit.

Enjoyment of his ice cream cone forgotten, Jounouchi sprinted for the school, vaulting over the fence around it and running towards the Blue-Silver-White source of the Dragon. Several men were running the other way and he shoved the melted broken remains of his ice cream into one of their faces as he passed and pushed another man over.

The last one wasn't on purpose, really. The guy had just been in his way, stumbling between himself and Mokuba. Then he wasn't. Simple.

There was no one within a wide radius of Mokuba, the Blue Eyes White Dragon hovering over him protectively and making sure that no one came closer. The Dragon made no sound, which was kind of eerie, one would expect something that large and pissed off looking to be growling or something.

"Yo, Mokuba!" He called. The Dragon turned his head towards Jounouchi, showing a mouthful of sharp fangs.

"Jounouchi!" Mokuba waved, looking only slightly mussed. "I'm having some problems here!"

"I noticed." The Blue Eyes shifted, clearly putting itself between himself and Mokuba. Right. Like that was going to happen. "What's going on? And skip the whole 'Goons-tried-ta-grab-me' bit."

"They didn't, they tried to grab my backpack, setting off the portable Solid System prototype." Mokuba grumbled. "And now I can't turn it off."

The Dragon roared soundlessly at him, but he was standing just out of range for it to bite him. "How solid is it?"

"Solid enough to toss one of the goons." Mokuba reported back, his voice a mixture of pride and anguish. Pride at the fact the prototype worked and anguish that he couldn't turn the damn thing off.

The Blue Eyes White Dragon shifted again and Jounouchi moved in return, keeping just out of reach. While he didn't think it could pull a Burst Stream like this, he wasn't going to be the first to find out. And despite their bulk, Blue Eyes could move damn fast.

"Have you tried-"

"I already hit the power button, attempted to disconnect the power source and removed some of the circuit boards!" Mokuba snapped.

"Didja hit it?"

The younger Kaiba blinked. "No?"

"Well, try it!" Jounouchi grinned, dodging a strike from the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Jeez, the damn thing was temperamental. Just like its biggest fan. "It always works fer me!"

Mokuba shrugged, stood up, bumped his head on the Dragon's belly, then kicked the back pack.

The Dragon flickered, then began to fade out. It thrashed in anger, but now it passed through things harmlessly. Jounouchi took the opportunity to duck past it and finally get to Mokuba. "You okay?" He asked, ruffling the kid's hair.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Mokuba waved it off, doing a brief check of the electrical components in his back pack with resigned air. "But I know I'm going to get detention for this. I'm not supposed to take stuff out of the labs to tinker on."

At the school's request, not Kaiba's. Although some members of the Kaiba Corporation stock holders fussed about their precious technology leaving highly secured premises in the back pack of an adolescent teenager, Kaiba himself really didn't give a flying flip. He still remembered how boring school had been for him. And so Mokuba bringing projects to work on to challenge himself didn't bother the elder Kaiba.

The school on the other hand, was terrified of some of the things Mokuba came up with to make, and so he was requested not to bring any of the 'dangerous' things Kaiba Corporation created onto school premises.

Personally, Jounouchi thought it was because the school board wasn't a fan of Duel Monsters. Evidently some of them had been terrified by the whole 'monsters on the streets' thing during Battle City.

"Not if we run fast enough." Jounouchi declared, grabbing the back pack in one hand and Mokuba's wrist in the other. "C'mon!"

Mokuba let out a breathless laugh as they ran out of the gates and down the sidewalk to where the limo was waiting. People scattered at their advance, no doubt having seen the demonstration in the school yard and not wanting to end up horribly splatted or some such.

The limo driver saw them coming and hit the button for the back door to open. It didn't open up fast enough for them to get in comfortably, but they squeezed through, Jounouchi pulling the door shut after them. "Go!" Mokuba cheered at the driver, bouncing happily.

Thankfully, and almost gleefully, the driver did so, quickly leaving the school behind. Jounouchi sometimes got the feeling that Mokuba's driver wanted to be an Indy sports car racer in a previous job, but hadn't gotten up the nerve to ask. Mokuba sprawled out on one of the limo's seats with a contented sigh. "It's Friday."

"So it is." Jounouchi grinned. Yay, weekend. Maybe they could actually get a chance to sleep in.

Mokuba suddenly sat up right, peering at him. "Nice outfit!" He grinned, pulling the sunglasses off of Jounouchi's head. His ears, freed from the glasses acting as sort of a head band to keep them pressed down and hidden, popped up. "Good disguise too. And it stayed on while you were fighting."

"Yeah, it was Yuugi's idea." Jounouchi grinned, tugging at the long sleeved shirt tied around his waist. It was partially buttoned up, the tail hiding on the inside of it. It was kind of uncomfortable, the fabric bunching up at the base of his tail was a pain, but it worked as effective camouflage. And as Mokuba pointed out, it worked while he was fighting.

Even if it did make him look like some sort of surfer bum. Yuugi had insisted he wear some of his old leather bracers buckled around his wrists to match the leather collar, to give him a more menacing look, but Jounouchi still thought he looked kind of silly, not at all like a threatening bodyguard.

"Have to thank him for it." Mokuba grinned, handing him his glasses back. "And hey, you can wear it while we're in America!"

Jounouchi did a double take. "AMERICA?!"

* * *

_Author's Note: Nope, not forgotten. 'Guard Dog' has always been our fic to work on when we're brain dead on everything else, so it tends to fluctuate between periods of constant updates and long stretches of nothing._


End file.
